GIFT  OF 


PEN  SKETCHES 


or 

"UNIVERSITY 

Streets  'of  Cairo  '' 

Sphinx  and  pyramids 

Bedouin  Wedding  Festival 
Venetian  Serenade 
Modern  Jerusalem 

Colosseum  Illuminated 

Bazaars  of  Damascus 
Pompeii  and  Vesuvius 


F1NLEY  ACKER 


PHILADELPHIA 


COPYRIGHT       1899 
F  I  N  L  E  Y    ACKER 


DRAWINGS  BY 

C.  P.  SHOFFNER 


PRESS  OF 
THB  MCLAUGHLIN  BROS.  Co., 

PHILADELPHIA 


PREFACE 

A  BUSINESS  friend,  upon 
whom  I  recently 
called,  seemed  un- 
usually depressed  and  low 
spirited,  and  I  ascertained 
that  the  only  cause  for  his 
depression  was  the  fact 
that  he  could  not  find  suf- 
ficiently profitable  and 
safe  securities  in  which  to 
invest  his  surplus  income! 

But  it  was  only  a  few 
years    ago    that    he    was 

bright  and  happy  in  trying  to  earn  a  modest  livelihood 
for  his  growing  family. 

The  question  is  sometimes  asked  whether  many 
American  business  men  don't  permit  themselves  to  be- 
come so  absorbed  in  their  pursuit  of  wealth  that  they 
become  "  deaf,  dumb  and  blind  n  to  all  forms  of  pleasure 
and  recreation  which  do  not  lead,  directly  or  indirectly, 
to  the  capture  of  the  u Almighty  Dollar. " 

Some  have  made  the  pleasing  discovery  that  by  oc- 
casionally withdrawing  from  their  regular  business  du- 
ties and  becoming  intensely  absorbed  in  totally  different 
environments  they  not  only  develop  an  invaluable  re- 
serve stock  of  vitality,  but  are  also  enabled  to  perform  a 
year's  ordinary  work  in  six,  eight  or  ten  months,  while 
at  the  same  time  the  quality  of  their  work  is  of  a  higher 
order. 

Every  man  has,  or  should  have,  his  u hobby" — in 
recreation.  I  think  mine  is  travel — particularly  foreign 


PREFACE 


travel.  It  seems  to  me  there  is  no  quicker  or  more  ef- 
fective means  than  travel  in  foreign  countries  for  dis- 
pelling the  selfish,  narrow  and  bigoted  ideas  which  are 
frequently  the  outgrowth  of  local  environment. 

And  there  is  probably  no  better  means  for  widening 
and  deepening  our  interest  and  sympathy  in  our  fellow 
man  than  to  discover,  in  all  parts  of  the  world,  the  same 
elements  of  human  nature,  the  same  human  love  and 
passions,  and  to  find  the  sun  shining,  the  rain  falling, 
and  the  laws  of  Providence  operating  with  impartial 
beneficence  upon  all  races  of  men,  regardless  of  inherited 
creed,  ignorance  or  bigotry. 

During  a  recent  trip  I  consented  to  write  a  few 
newspaper  articles  upon  some  of  the  places  I  visited. 
Upon  my  return  a  number  of  friends  requested  the  pub- 
lication of  the  articles  in  book  form. 

Whether  I  acted  wisely  in  yielding  to  this  request 
will  depend  upon  whether  the  reader  who  wades  through 
it  is  entertained  or  bored. 

But  should  it  induce  some  hard  working  business  or 
professional  man  to  try  the  experiment  of  placing  more 
business  responsibility  upon  the  shoulders  of  others,  and 
of  temporarily  forgetting  business  cares,  perplexities 
and  anxieties,  among  the  picturesque  Orientals  of  Egypt 
and  of  Syria,  or  among  the  vivacious  Venetians,  Romans 
or  Neapolitans,  the  object  of  this  little  booklet  may  be 
partly  accomplished,  for  he  will  likely  return  better  pre- 
pared, both  physically  and  mentally,  to  resume  his  bus- 
iness duties  and  responsibilities,  and  be  more  keenly 
alive  to  the  fact  that  the  one  country  in  the  world  which, 
by  reason  of  its  boundless  natural  resources  and  the  in- 


tellectual  and  moral  stamina  of  its 
people,  is  best  qualified  to  assume 
the  leadership  of  all  other  nations, 
is  his  own  country  of  America. 

And  should  he  be  fortunate 
enough  to  be  accompanied  in  his 
rambles  by  a  thoroughly  compan- 
ionable "  better  half"  he  will  find 
his  trip  made  doubly  enjoyable. 
And  it  is  to  one  of  the  most  endear- 
ing, vivacious  and  unselfish  of  these 
that  this  little  booklet  is  appropri- 
ately and  affectionately  dedicated. 
THE  AUTHOR. 
Philadelphia,  February r,  ipoo. 


(Published  in  Philadelphia  Inquirer} 


"The  Midway  "  was  one  of  the  most  popular  feat- 
ures of  the  World's  Fair  at  Chicago. 

And  the  "  Streets  of  Cairo "  were  among  the  most 
popular  features  of  the  Midway. 

But  some  patrons  of  this  part  of  the  exhibition 
formed  the  erroneous  impression  that  most  of  the  women 
in  Cairo  concealed  their  faces  behind  black  veils  and 
brass  nose  pieces ;  that  most  of  the  men  wore  Oriental 
skirts  and  squatted  Turk  fashion;  that  transportation 
facilities  were  confined  to  the  camel  and  donkey,  and 
that  the  continuous  and  only  form  of  public  amusement 
was  of  a  rather  startling  and  shocking  character. 

But  as  one  enters  the  city  of  Cairo  of  today,  he  may 
be  agreeably  surprised  at  its  many 

EVIDENCES  OF  COSMOPOLITANISM 

If  he  drives  through  the  extensive  and  ornate  gardens 
of  the  Ghezireh  Palace  Hotel,  he  may  imagine  himself 
suddenly  transported  to  Hotel  del  Monte,  at  Monterey, 
California. 

3 


PEN  SKETCHES 


If  he  strolls  through  the  drawing  room  of  the  Savoy, 
or  Shepheard's,  he  may  conclude  he  is  in  Saratoga. 

If  he  walks  through  the  broad  avenues  of  the  newly 
built  portion  of  Cairo,  he  may  be  reminded  of  the  boule- 
vards of  Paris. 

If  he  peers  into  the  shop  windows  lining  the  Shari- 
a-Kamel  Pasha,  or  the  Muski,  he  may  recognize 
the  conventional  features  of  the  retail  district  of 
a  continental  city. 

If  he  spends  an  evening  at  the  Khedivial 
Opera  House,  he  may  imagine  himself  in  Phila- 
delphia or  I/ondon. 

If  he  trades  at  the  bazaars  of 
the  Arabs  or  Algerians,  he  may  sus- 
pect himself  still  in  Damascus. 

If  he  rides  donkey  back 
through  the  narrow  streets 
of  old  Cairo,  he  may  feel 

that   an  impassable   gulf     Z^v^ZMAMMW'  -^THfcl> 
separates  him   from    Euro- 
pean civilization. 

If  he  visits  the  alabaster 
Mosque  of  Mohammed  Ali, 
or  the  university  in  Mosque 
el-Azhar,  with  its  five  thou- 
sand earnest  students  of  the 

Koran,  he  can  easily  believe  himself  to  be  in  the  very 
heart  of  Mohammedanism. 

If  he  gazes  upon  the  Nile,  under  the  soft  light  of  the 
full  moon,  he  may  readily  drift  into  a  dreamy  meditation 
upon  the  historic  stream  without  which  Egypt  would  be 


THE  STREETS  OF  CAIRO 


a  barren  desert,  and  with  which  has  been  linked  so  much 
that  is  weird  and  mysterious  in  Egyptian  story. 

If  he  visits  the  Gizeh  Museum  and  recognizes  at  its 
portals  the  familiar  but  mummified  face  of  the  most 
celebrated  of  the  Pharaohs,  and  gains  an  insight  into 
ancient  customs  from  the  pictorial  carvings  upon  the 
unearthed  monuments,  he  may  feel  that  this  is  the  most 
promising  spot  for  unraveling  the  secrets  of  ancient 
history. 

And  if  he  pays  his  respects  to  the  Pyramids  and  the 
Sphinx,  he  may  experience  a  profound  feeling  of  reverence 
in  standing  face  to  face  with  the  most  ancient  and  cele- 
brated monuments  of  human  construction. 

With  this  heterogeneous  combination,  all  within  the 
confines  of  a  single  city,  it  is  easy  to 
see  why  Cairo  should  be  regarded  as 
one  of  the  most  interesting  cities  of 
the  world;  although  if  the  visitor 
chooses  to  limit  himself  to  but  one  of 
the  many  worlds  in  Cairo  his  impres- 
sions will  be  proportionately  different 
from  those  which  are  made  upon  the 
traveler  who  enjoys  seeing  the  city  in 
its  entirety. 

A  PICTURESQUE  FASHIONABLE 
SIGHT 

One  of  the  very  picturesque  sights 
in  the  fashionable  district  of  Cairo  is 
the  fine  equipages  drawn  by  splendid 


PEN  SKETCHES 


specimens  of  Arabian   horses  and  preceded  by  one  or 
two  forerunners  or  outrunners. 

These  functionaries,  whom  I  have  never  seen  in 
any  other  city,  are  generally  fine-looking,  slenderly 
built  Arabs  with  black  hair  and  moustache  ;  with  their 
feet  and  the  lower  part  of  their  limbs  bare;  and  attired 
in  a  red  fez  and  white  turban;  a  white  shirt  with  the 
sleeves  rolled  up  to  the  shoulder  and  disclosing  bright  red 
undersleeves;  white  bloomers  ;  a  short,  circular  jacket, 
richly  embroidered  with  gilt ;  a  large,  bright-colored 
sash  and  carrying  a  long  pole.  Thus  equipped,  they 
keep  running  a  certain  distance  ahead  of  their  carriage 
to  "  clear  the  way  "  for  their  master;  and  they,  appar- 
ently, never  tire.  The  bright  colors  and  picturesque- 
ness  of  the  costume,  combined  with  the  graceful  activity 
of  the  men,  form  a  picture  of  which  one  never  tires. 

But  in  order  to  see  that  which  differs  most  from 
modern  life  and  customs  the  traveler  must  leave 
the  fashionable  and  modern  district  of  the  Savoy 
and  Shepheard's  and  stroll 
through  the  narrow  lanes  and 
streets  of  old  Cairo,  or  in  the 
Arab  district,  and  if  he  does 
this  in  the  heat  of  the  day  he 
will  realize,  in  a  cool  and  re- 
freshing manner,  the  advant- 
age, in  a  semi-tropical  city, 
of  walking  through  very  nar- 
row streets  in  which  the  over- 
hanging  balconies  almost 
meet 


THE  STREETS  OF  C/1IRO 


THE  STREETS  OF  OLD  CAIRO 

In  going  through  old  Cairo  he  is  strongly  reminded 
of  the  buildings  in  the  streets  of  Cairo  as  exhibited  at 
the  World's  Fair. 

To  stroll  or  to  ride  on  a  donkey  (the  most  popular 
form  of  conveyance)  through  these  so-called  streets, 
some  of  which  are  not  more  than  six  feet  wide,  is 
curiously  interesting. 

In  the  morning,  noon  or 
night  are  seen,  at  the  Ara- 
bian cafes,  the  native  Arabs 
sipping  their  Turkish  coffee 
or  smoking  their  cheap  cig- 
arettes or  their  picturesque 
nargilehs.  From  the  great 
number  of  these  patrons  one 
might  suppose  the  Arabs 
were  lazy  and  unwilling  to 
work,  but  in  order  to  dissi- 
pate this  idea  it  is  only 
necessary  to  watch  the 
railroad  porters,  the  hack 
drivers,  the  donkey  boys,  or 
boatmen  struggle,  push, 
fight  and  swear  to  get  pos- 
session of  a  passenger  and  ~  •  r  I7il^j 
his  luggage.  But  the  active 

energy  of  the  Arab  rarely  causes  him  to  spend  his 
spare  time  in  self-improvement,  particularly  in  the  line 
of  personal  or  household  cleanliness;  smoking,  coffee 


PEN  SKETCHES 


drinking,  chatting  and  the  observance  of  his  Moslem 
devotions,  are  the  conventional  ways  in  which  his  un- 
employed time  is  generally  spent. 

THE  NATIVE  COSTUMES 

The  costumes  are  varied,  but  the  most  popular 
style  among  the  men  is  a  long  skirt,  made  apparently 
of  blue  Kentucky  jean,  and  a  red  fez,  either  plain  or 
dressed  with  a  white  or  green 
turban. 

The  ordinary  costume  of  women 
of  the  poorest  class  (who  find  time 
to  blacken  their  eyelashes  and  eye- 
lids, and  have  their  faces  and  chests 
tattooed)  consists  of  a  long  blue 
or  black  skirt,  with  the  upper  half 
frequently  thrown  over  the  head, 
and  with  a  long  black  or  white  veil 
concealing  their  face. 

Inasmuch  as  these  styles  never 
change,  and  as  a  woman's  garment 
can  be  purchased  for  fifty  cents, 
it  is  distressing  to  think  of  the  havoc  which  would  be 
occasioned  among  our  fashionable  dressmakers  and 
milliners  if  Worth  (or  his  legatee)  should  suddenly 
authorize  the  adoption  of  the  Arabic  costume  among 
his  devotees  in  Philadelphia  and  other  large  cities. 

While,  however,  the  costume  of  the  Arabic  women 
undergoes  little,  if  any,  variation,  the  dress  of  the  men 
is  frequently  modified  by  the  partial  adoption  of  Euro- 
pean fashions,  the  grotesqueness  of  which  is  quite 


THE  STREETS  OF  CAIRO 


striking  when  an  Arab  is  seen  wearing  his  conventional 
long  skirt  and  fez,  but,  at  the  same  time,  displaying 
European  gaiters  and  a  short  spring  overcoat. 

IN  THE  BAZAARS 

In  the  native  bazaars  one  sees  the  greatest  diversity 
and  animation  in  Oriental  life. 

L,ike  the  celebrated  bazaars  of  Damascus,  those  of 
Cairo  are  generally  separated  into  different  classes,  and 
each  shop  consists  of  a  single  room,  which  is  usually 
smaller  than  our  average  American 
show  window.     In  this  room,  or  in 
front  of  it,  the  proprietor  squats  or 
stands  and  conducts  all  the  minutiae 
of  his  business. 

The  streets  or  lanes  which  are 
lined  with  these  shops  are  always 
full  of  life  and  animation,  being 
frequented  by  both  natives  and 
foreigners,  and  they  resound  with 
the  braying  of  donkeys,  the  warn- 
ing shouts  of  their  drivers,  and  the 
jingling  cymbals  and  calls  of  the 
water  and  lemonade  vender,  who 
keeps  his  beverage  stored  in  a  goat 
skin. 

But  when  the  jewelry  or  silversmith  bazaar  is 
pointed  out,  and  one  sees  a  narrow  lane  not  over  four 
feet  wide,  and  lined  on  both  sides  with  the  smiths  who, 
in  their  miniature  boxes,  both  make  and  sell  their 
wares,  he  recognizes  an  amusing  contrast  between  the 


ro 


PEN  SKETCHES 


old  and  the  new  by  recalling  to  mind  the  Tiffanys,  the 
Cald wells  and  the  other  typical  smiths  of  America. 

In  the  perfumery  bazaar  the  proprietor,  surrounded 
on  three  sides  with  his  large  bottles  of  varied  perfumes, 
enterprisingly  offers  to  part  with  a  drop  (but  the  smallest 
drop  I  have  ever  seen),  as  a  free  sample.  Attar  of  roses 
appears  to  be  the  most  popular  odor. 

In  the  fez  bazaar  each  shop  is  provided  with  brass 

forms  which,  when 
heated,  are  used  to 
press  and  repress  the 
fez  into  the  desired 
shape. 

In  the  slipper 
bazaar,  the  silk  bazaar, 
the  dry  goods  bazaar, 
the  Algerian  bazaar 
and  in  all  the  other 
bazaars,  distinctive 
Oriental  features  are 
found  which  cannot 
fail  to  interest  and 
entertain. 

Although  less  animated,  it  is  also  interesting  to 
stroll  through  the  narrow  lanes  in  the  residential  district 
of  the  Arab  population. 

The  visitor  may  be  obliged  to  frequently  retrace  his 
steps  when  he  finds  no  outlet  to  a  long  and  tortuous 
lane,  but  he  avoids  this  perplexity  after  he  learns  that 
"  Sharia"  means  a  street  with  an  outlet,  and  u  Artfet" 
a  lane  which  may  terminate  in  a  private  courtyard. 


THE  STREETS  OF  CAIRO  n 

Such  a  stroll,  while  interesting  in  disclosing  how 
much  Oriental  contentment  may  be  crowded  into  a 
single  chimneyless  room  with  a  stone  floor,  at  the  same 
time  awakens  a  feeling  of  profound  gratitude  at  the 
superior  household  and  sanitary  conveniences  of  those 
in  similar  positions  in  our  own  country. 


UNIVJ 


STUDENTS  OF  MOSLEM 

An  equally  Oriental  impression  may  be  formed  by 
listening  to  the  sonorous  cry  of  the  muezzin 
from  the  towering  minarets  as  he  calls  the  faith- 
ful Moslem  to  his  prayers  ;  or  by  visiting  the 
many  ancient  and  modern  mosques,  with  their 
conventional  fountains  in  the  courtyard,  in  which 
the  Mohammedan  is  required  to  wash  his  face, 
hands  and  feet  before  starting  on  his  ninety-nine 
prayers  ;  and  particularly  by  visiting  the  mosque 
which  is  used  as  a  university,  and  in  which  the 
five  thousand  students  formerly  spent  their  entire 
time  in  committing  to  memory  the  words  of 
the  Koran,  and  who  graduated  only  after  this 
mnemonic  feat  was  accomplished. 

It  is  a  ludicrous  sight  to  see  these  thousands 
of  pupils  squatting,  Turk  fashion,  on  the  matted 
floor  of  the  mosque — some  by  themselves;  others 
in  circles  being  taught  by  an  instructor;  some 
writing  the  words  with  ink  on  slates  made  of  tin,  but 
all  energetically  swaying  their  bodies  backward  and  for- 
ward, and  nodding,  with  a  quick,  jerky  motion,  their 
heads  in  different  directions. 

The  reason  assigned  for  this  grotesque  act  of  gym- 


12 


PEN  SKETCHES 


nasties  was  that  the  faculty  of  memory  is  thereby  kept 
in  a  superior  state  of  activity,  and  that  which  is  learned 
becomes  more  solidly  packed  in  the  mind — probably  on 

the  same  principle  which  gov- 
erns an  automatic  packing 
machine. 

One  energetic  pupil 
squatted  so  closely  to  the  stone 
wall  and  shot  his  head  and 
body  forward  so  vehemently 
as  to  suggest  the  theory  that  he 
proposed  to  dispute  the  infalli- 
bility of  the  old  adage  regard- 
ing a  man  "butting  his  head 
against  a  stone  wall." 

Some  of  the  other  pupils 
were  stretched  out  full  length 
on  the  floor  taking  a  nap. 

As  a  university  scene,  it 
possesses  sufficiently  grotesque 
features  to  interest  the  humor- 
ist, and  I  would  suggest  that 
the   Mask  and  Wig  Club   in- 
clude its  faithful    reproduction   in   their  next  public 
performance  for  maintaining  the   classical   dignity  of 
our  own  great  university. 

IN  THE  GIZEH  MUSEUM 

When  one  wishes  to  suddenly  step  backward  a  few 
thousand  years  and  breathe  the  atmosphere  of  ancient 
Egypt,  commune  with  its  noted  personages,  and  become 


-m    i 


LI- .'.;*•*•? 

"*'*'*»'*•;*" 


THE  STREETS  OF  CAIRO 


familiar  with  its  old-time  customs,  all  he  need  do  is  to 
enter  the  Gizeh  Museum. 

When  he  looks  upon  the  mummified  face  of  Rame- 
ses  II.,  who  reigned  over  half  a  century,  and  whose 
father  is  believed  to  have  been  the  Pharaoh  who  ordered 
the  murder  of  all  newly  born  male  children  among  the 
Jews,  he  may  feel  that  he  recognizes  an  old  acquaint- 
ance, for  his  striking  physiognomy  has  been  produced 
and  reproduced  so  frequently  in  magazines  as  to  make 
it  very  familiar.  His  feat- 
ures have  been  so  perfectly 
preserved  during  the  several 
thousand  years  in  which  he 
was  entombed  that  they  do 
not  appear  repulsive.  The 
face  and  head  are  worth 
studying.  The  unusually 
prominent  and  highly 
arched  nose  indicates  great 
love  and  power  of  command, 
while  the  facial  features  arid 
the  head  suggest  the  charac- 
teristics of  the  cool,  calculating,  passionless  diplomat. 
From  a  study  of  the  features  and  those  of  his  father,  it 
is  easy  to  believe  that  such  acts  as  the  murder  of  Jewish 
infants  would  not  be  ordered  to  gratify  any  special  love 
"for  cruelty,  but  simply  as  a  supposed  inevitable  inci- 
dent for  guarding  and  perpetuating  the  power  of  their 
dynasty — just  as  our  own  newly  elected  public  officials 
cut  off  the  heads  of  certain  subordinates,  not  from  any 
feeling  of  malice,  but,  on  the  contrary,  frequently  with 


X4  PEN  SKETCHES 


a  sentiment  of  genuine  compassion ;  but  the  act  of  exe- 
cution is  nevertheless  carried  out  as  one  of  the  inexor- 
able laws  in  practical  politics  for  maintaining  partisan 
or  factional  control. 

SOME  MUMMY  STORIES 

There  is  a  published  story  that  when  the  mummi- 
fied remains  of  this  proud  old  Egyptian  king  were 
transferred  to  Bulak  the  Custom  House  authorities  were 
puzzled  to  know  how  to  classify  the  importation,  as 
" mummies"  could  not  be  found  in  their  official  list. 
The  problem  was,  however,  finally  solved  by  entering 
the  mummy  as  "fertilizer, "  for  the  reason  that  many 
of  them  had  been  used  by  the  Arabs  for  that  purpose 
and  also  because  the  duty  upon  fertilizers  was  low. 

Had  this  incident  occurred  before  Shakespeare's 
time  it  might  have  furnished  the  illustrious  bard  an 
illustration  of  the  fall  of  the  mighty,  even  more  striking 
than  was  found  in  Caesar,  who, 

"  Dead  and  turned  to  clay, 
Might  stop  a  hole  to  keep  the  wind  away." 

But  when  I  mentioned  this  story  to  Professor  Sayce, 
the  eminent  Egyptologist,  he  smilingly  said  it  was  an 
entertaining  story,  but  he  would  not  like  to  guarantee 
its  accuracy. 

He  told  me,  however,  of  an  actual  occurrence  which 
may  not  have  been  heretofore  published.  It  was  to  the 
effect  that  when  the  mummies  of  the  kings  were  being 
taken  away  from  L,uxor  some  of  the  natives  pretended 
to  be  affected  with  great  grief  at  the  carrying  away  of 


THE  STREETS  OF  CAIRO 


their  ancient  kings,  and  ran  along  the  shore, 
after  the  boat,  wailing,  shrieking  and  throwing 
sand  into  their  hair,  when  suddenly  a  strange  and 
weird  spectacle  presented  itself; 
a  number  of  the  mummies  of  the  H 
kings,  which  were  spread  out  on 
the  deck  of  the  boat, 
and  which  had  been 
lying  motionless  and 
serene  for  thousands  of 
years,  gradually  raised 
their  heads  as  though  in  recognition  of  the  tribute  of  re- 
spect which  the  natives  were  paying,  and  as  though  they 
desired  to  take  a  last  look  at  their  ancient  resting  place. 

If  I  said  nothing  more  about  this  story  the  sanity  of 
both  the  professor  and  myself  might  seriously  be  brought 
into  question,  and  Rider  Haggard  might  also  use  the 
incident  in  a  coming  story  of  "He,"  to  illustrate  the 
weird  and  perpetual  power  of  the  early  Egyptian  sor- 
cerers. As  a  matter,  however,  of  cold,  scientific  fact, 
the  apparent  miraculous  movements  were  nothing  more 
than  the  expansion  and  contraction  of  the  skin,  caused 
by  the  intense  rays  of  a  L,uxor  sun  beating  down  upon 
the  exposed  bodies. 

The  lover  of  mummies  can,  in  this  museum,  have 
his  taste  abundantly  gratified,  for  he  will  find  many 
celebrated  ancient  rulers  and  numerous  rows  of  shelves 
of  the  priests  of  Ammon  (the  sight  of  which  gives  a 
weird  significance  to  the  old  phrase  of  being  ' '  laid  on 
the  shelf"  ),  and  also  a  lot  of  lesser  dignitaries,  many 
of  whom  are,  no  doubt,  more  celebrated  as  a  speechless 


i6 


PEN  SKETCHES 


mummy  than  when  they  engaged  in  the  activities  of 
life  as  a  human  individual. 

ANCIENT  MECHANICAL  FORCES 

The  hieroglyphics  and  pictorial  carvings  on  the 
stone  slabs  brought  from  Luxor,  Memphis  and  other 
ancient  cities  give  a  practical  insight  into  ancient 
mechanical  arts  ;  and  the  simple  and  primitive  tools 

which  are  there  represented 
favor  the  theory  that  the  con- 
struction of  the  pyramids  and 
other  colossal  tombs  and  tem- 
ples of  antiquity  was  accom- 
plished not  by  the  aid  of  supe- 
rior or  phenomenal  forces,  the 
knowledge  of  which  lies 
buried,  but  by  the  use  of 
simple  mechanical  contrivances  operated  by  the  concen- 
trated energy  of  a  fabulous  number  of  workmen. 

INFLUENCE  OF  THE  NILE 

But  what  would  Cairo,  and,  in  fact,  what  would  the 
whole  of  Egypt  be  without  the  Nile  ? 

When  one  pauses  to  consider  the  marvelous 
influence  of  this  historic  stream,  which,  by  its  annual 
overflow  of  alluvial  deposit,  converts  a  dead,  barren  desert 
into  one  of  the  richest  and  most  fertile  regions  in  the 
world,  it  is  easy  to  understand  why  the  Nile,  with  its 
four  thousand  miles  of  length,  should  always  have 
commanded  such  deference  and  even  reverence  from 
Egyptians. 


THE  STREETS  OF  CAIRO 


When  the  river  reaches  its  highest  point,  as  indi- 
cated by  the  nilometer  on  the  island  of  Roda,  it  is 
possible  to  determine  with  considerable  accuracy  the 
abundance  of  the  crops  for  that  year,  as  the  height  of 
the  river  regulates  the  number  of  irrigating  canals  which 
can  be  supplied  with  water,  and  this,  in  turn,  determines 
how  many  acres  of  soil  can  be  cultivated. 

To  the  absolute  dependence  of  the  Egyptians, 
from  the  very  earliest  period,  upon  this  one  great 
source  of  life  is  attributed  their  early  intellectual 
development.  It  is  contended  that  "the  necessity  of 
controlling  the  course  of  the  Nile  and  utilizing  its  water 
forced  them  to  study  the  art 
of  river  engineering;  and  as 
they  beheld  in  the  starry 
heavens  the  calendar  which 
regulated  the  approach  and 
departure  of  the  inunda- 
tions, they  naturally  became 
students  of  astronomy.  As 
the  annual  overflow  of  the  water  obliterated  all  land- 
marks, it  became  necessary  annually  to  remeasure  the 
land,  and  to  keep  a  register  of  the  area  belonging  to  each 
owner.  The  soundness  of  property,  therefore,  became 
recognized,  and  the  disputes  which  naturally  arose  each 
year  showed  the  necessity  of  adopting  settled  laws  and 
enforcing  judicial  decisions.  The  Nile  thus  led  to  the 
foundation  of  social,  legal  and  political  order.  " 

The  river  Nile  of  today  has  a  practical  lesson  to 
teach  the  far-away  Philadelphians  who  boast  of  their 
superior  civilization,  but  who,  nevertheless,  have  posted 


18  PEN  SKETCHES 


up  in  their  kitchens  the  ominous  warning  from  their 
Board  of  Health  not  to  drink  their  city  water  unless 
boiled! 

The  water  of  the  Nile  is  more  murky  than  either  the 
Schuylkill  or  the  Delaware,  but  when  it  appears  as 
drinking  water  upon  the  table  it  is  clear  as  crystal,  and 
the  wonderful  transformation  from  offensive  muddiness 
into  crystalline  purity  is  due  to  the  simple  process  of 

nitration. 

*  *  *  * 

The  Pyramids  and  the  Sphinx — who  can  think  of 
Cairo  without  them  ?  But  their  story  must  be  told  at  a 
different  time.  All  that  these  imperishable  monuments 
of  past  glory  can  say  in  this  article  is  to  welcome 
again  and  again  to  this  cosmopolitan  city  all  who  desire 
to  make  or  renew  an  acquaintance  with  those  who 
breathed,  and  with  the  things  which  existed,  in  the 
civilization  of  the  Dead  Past. 


(Published  in  Evening  Telegraph} 


To  view  the  Pyramids  for  the  first  time  under  the 
full  glare  and  heat  of  the  Egyptian  sun  can  hardly  be 
other  than  disappointing  to  those  who  have  cherished 
a  sentimental  and  poetic  interest  in  these  ancient  monu- 
ments. 

The  sight  is,  of  course,  impressive,  because  of  their 
colossal  proportions  ;  but  as  one  looks  at  that  massive 
pile  of  rough  stone,  occupying  at  its  base  probably  as 
much  ground  space  as  our  City  Hall,  and  stretching 
diagonally  upward  to  a  point  almost  as  high  as  the  base 
of  Penn's  statue,  he  is  strongly  tempted  to  forget  the 
ingenious  theories  of  their  astronomical  and  mathemat- 
ical significance,  and  exclaim  :  ' '  What  consummate 
idiocy! " 

When  he  recalls  further  that  the  huge  pile  of 
masonry  in  the  Great  Pyramid  possesses  no  feature  of 
artistic  beauty  other  than  its  perfect  conformity  to  the 
angular  lines  of  a  pyramid  ;  that  it  monopolizes  the 
space  of  thirteen  acres  ;  that  it  contains  over  two  million 
separate  blocks  of  stone  ;  that  it  weighs  over  six  million 
tons  ;  and  that  it  required  for  its  construction,  according 

19 


20 


PEN  SKETCHES 


to  Herodotus,  the  services  for  twenty  years  of  one  hun- 
dred thousand  men  during  three  months  of  each  year, 
a  feeling  of  intense  irritation  and  exasperation  may  be 
engendered  against  Cheops,  the  builder,  who,  while 
possessing  such  absolute  power  over  the  toilers  in  his 
dominions,  expended  this  enormous  amount  of  energy 
in  merely  erecting,  in  conformity  with  mathematical 


principles,  a  gigantic  stone  quarry,  when  the  same 
expenditure  of  time  and  labor  might  have  created  a 
temple  of  colossal  proportions  and  of  marvelous  archi- 
tectural beauty. 

A  PHILADELPHIA  PYRAMID 

Some  one,  however,  was  unkind  enough  to  remind 
me  that  while  this  monument  was  finally  completed  in 


THE  SPHINX  AND  PYRAMIDS 


twenty  years,  we  had  in  the  City  Hall 
of  Philadelphia  a  different  sort  of  mon- 
ument, which,  in  consequence  of  the 
self-perpetuating  powers  of  its  build- 
ing commission,  might  not  be   com- 
pleted  during   the  next  five 
thousand  years. 

In  this  one  respect  he  con- 
tended that  the  Egyptians  of 
five  thousand  years  ago  may 
have  possessed  an  advantage 
over  the  Philadelphians  of 
today,  who,  because  of  their 

inheritance  of  Independence  Hall,  believe  they  enjoy  the 
right  of  self-government. 

A  ROYAL  OBSERVATORY 

But  to  return  to  the  Pyramids.  If  the 
traveler  is  willing  to  undergo  the  fatigue  of 
being  hauled  and  pushed  and  hustled  up 
to  the  summit,  he  is  rewarded  by  a  view 
which  is  not  only  extensive,  but 
intensely  interesting. 

He  may  also  experience  a 
grim  satisfaction  in  de- 
fying the  original  pur- 
pose of  Cheops  by 
utilizing  as  an  obser- 
vatory what  he  de- 
signed only  as  his 
pretentious  tomb.  On 


1P 

'  >r|i1|»L:'*i      '"'''     "fry    ' 
,  !.,-.-  ' ••;   :.•-..-•'•.«.-...  .V, 

• 


22 


PEN  SKETCHES 


the  one  side  stretches  out,  as  far  as  the  eye  can  see,  the 
barren  desert,  grimly  suggestive  of  death  and  desola- 
tion, and  only  re- 
lieved by  the  smaller 
pyramids  of  Sak- 
kara,  D  a  s  h  u  r  and 
Abusir  as  silent  re- 
minders of  the  dead 
past  of  Egyptian 
civilization. 

But  as  a  refresh- 
ing contrast  to  this 
picture  of  death  may 
be  seen,  in  the  east, 
the  glittering  course 
of  the  Nile,  on  the 
borders  of  which 
stretch  a  varying 
breadth  of  rich  green 
vegetation  which  is 
picturesquely  re- 
lieved by  the  stately  date  palm  tree ;  while  to  the 
northeast  rise  the  graceful  minarets  of  the  cosmopolitan 
city  of  Cairo. 

A  COLOSSAL  TOMB 

If  the  traveler,  after  descending  from  the  summit, 
desires  more  fatigue,  he  may  crawl  through  the  narrow 
and  slippery  passageway  into  the  tomb  chamber  in 
which  Cheops  expected  his  mummified  body  and  his 
buried  jewels  to  be  perpetually  secure.  That  his  plans 
were  utterly  thwarted  awakens  a  feeling  of  keen  regret 


THE  SPHINX  AND  PYRAMIDS  23 


on  the  part  of  those  who  would  like  to  expose  him  to 
public  view,  like  other  fossils  and  curiosities  of  his  age, 
in  the  Gizeh  Museum. 

A  DIFFERENT  VIEW 

But  there  are  other  times  and  places  when  a  view 
of  the  Pyramids  gives  rise  to  other  thoughts  and 
emotions. 

Some  places,  like  the  lives  of  some  men  and  women, 
are  best  seen  at  a  distance.     Their  large 
proportions  are  not  designed  for  close  or 
microscopic  inspection,  no  more  than  is  the 
Jungfrau,  whose  fascinating  face,  both  in 
the  bright  sunlight  and  in  the  soft  glow  of 
the  full  moon,  shines  with 
rare  and  radiant  beauty  to 
her  distant  votaries  in  Inter- 
laken,  but  whose  unattract- 
ive features  are  disclosed  to 
the  closer  and  critical   ob- 
server at  Wengernalp. 

And  so  it  is  with  the  Pyramids. 
Long  before  reaching  Cairo,  they  loom  up 
out  of  the  horizon,  hazy,  misty,  and  frequently  softened 
with  the  varying  tints  of  the  setting  sun,  like  a  deified 
guardian  of  the  past,  welcoming  you  to  the  land  so  rich 
with  its  buried  tales  of  the  most  ancient  science,  civiliza- 
tion and  humanity. 

At  a  distance  they  are  no  longer  a  mere  pile  of  stone, 
but,  like  every  perfect  picture  or  statue,  they  become 
imbued  with  life — not  with  the  life  of  today,  but  with 


PEN  SKETCHES 


the  life  of  the  hazy  past,  which  is  interwoven  with  the 
mysteries  of  the  Nile,  the  charms  of  Cleopatra,  the 
magnificence  of  the  court  of  the  Pharaohs,  the  thrilling 
adventures  of  Moses  and  Joseph,  and  with  the  mysteries 
and  subtleties  of  the  most  ancient  magic  and  priestcraft. 
And  this  living  spirit  always  pervades  the  Pyramids 
when  seen  at  the  proper  distance.  Looking  at  them 
from  the  citadel  in  Cairo,  or  while  sailing  on  the  river 

Nile,  or  from  the  site 
of  ancient  Memphis, 
or  from  the  train  in 
leaving  Cairo,  as 
their  misty  forms 
gradually  fade  in  the 
distance,  no  such 
irreverent  idea  as 
"  stone  quarry "  is 
suggested,  for  as 
their  colossal  and  angular  forms  loom  up  out  of  the 
horizon  or  gradually  fade  from  view,  they  assume  a  form 
of  grace  and  beauty  and  dignity  which  may  be  pro- 
foundly felt,  but  not  adequately  described. 

ANCIENT  LANDMARKS 

The  Pyramids  also  tell  another  story.  They  point 
significantly  to  the  temples  and  baths  and  palaces  of 
imperial  Rome,  resplendent  with  architectural  beauty, 
and  adorned  with  the  choicest  statues  of  Grecian 
sculptors,  but  which,  mutilated  and  dishonored,  were 
destined  to  be  filled  with  debris  and  served  but  as  sub- 
foundations  for  future  structures. 


THE  SPHINX  AND  PYRAMIDS 25 

They  point  with  equal  significance  to  the  former 
Temple  of  Baalbec,  colossal  in  its  proportions  and  ye  t 
finished  with  all  the  grace  of  the  best  Corinthian  archi- 
tecture, but  whose  ruins  today  give  but  a  hint 
of  their  former  magnificence. 

They  also  point  to  the  site  of  ancient  Heli- 
opolis,  whose   magnificent  structures  filled  the 
world  with  wonder,  but  of  which  only  a  single 
obelisk  remains  to  mark  the  spot,  while 
one  companion  obelisk  has  migrated  to 
London  and  another  to  New  York  city. 

And  yet,  amid  all  this  destruction  of 
ancient  forms  of  architectural  beauty,  the 
Pyramids,  antedating  them  all,  have  for 
five  thousand  years  proudly  maintained 
their  original  form,  although  stripped  of  their  polished 
stone  veneerings  and  robbed  of  their  mummified  contents. 

EGYPTIAN  FORESIGHT 

Perhaps,  after  all,  our  hasty  judgment  of  Cheops, 
as  a  builder,  was  fallacious.  Instead  of  condemning 
him  for  consummate  idiocy,  perhaps  we  should  accredit 
him  with  marvelously  keen  foresight  in  adopting  a  style 
of  architecture  which  has  so  successfully  withstood  the 
ravages  of  time  and  the  cupidity  of  men. 

We  confess  experiencing  a  keen  desire  to  closely 
inspect  his  mummified  physiognomy  side  by  side  in  the 
Gizeh  Museum  with  that  of  Rameses  II. ,  the  Pharaoh 
whose  father  was  responsible  for  the  early  adventure  of 
Moses  in  the  bullrushes.  We  might  silently  crave  his 
pardon  for  our  first  hasty  judgment  upon  his  pyramid, 


26  PEN  SKETCHES 


and  express  gratitude  that,  notwithstanding  his  apparent 
disregard  for  human  life  and  energy  in  carrying  out 
his  selfish  purpose  to  perpetuate  his  glory,  he  never- 
theless erected  a  monument  which  for  thousands  of  years 
may  continue  to  be  of  intense  interest  to  posterity,  even 
though  the  mummified  remains  of  its  ambitious  builder 
may  have  been  utilized  as  a  fertilizer  by  the  Bedouins  of 
the  desert. 

A  WEIRD  POEM 

Apropos  of  the  above,  the  following  poem  is  apt 
to  impress  one  most  weirdly  as  he  hears  it  recited  within 
the  very  shadow  of  the  great  Pyramid  in  which  the 
embalmed  king  was  supposed  to  be  entombed  : 

A  KING  IN  EGYPT 

I  think  I  lie  by  the  lingering  Nile  ; 
I  think  I  am  one  that  have  lain  long  while, 
With  my  lips  sealed  up  in  a  solemn  smile, 
In  the  lazy  land  of  the  loitering  Nile. 

I  think  I  lie  in  the  Pyramid, 

And  the  darkness  weighs  on  the  closed  eyelid, 

And  the  air  is  heavy  where  I  am  hid 

With  the  stone  on  stone  of  the  Pyramid. 

I  think  there  are  graven  god  hoods  grim 
That  look  from  the  walls  of  my  chamber  dim; 
And  the  hampered  hand  and  the  muffled  limb 
Lie  fixed  in  the  spell  of  their  gazes  grim. 

I  think  I  lie  in  a  languor  vast ; 
Numb,  dumb  soul  in  a  body  fast, 
Waiting  long  as  the  world  shall  last, 
Lying  cast  in  a  languor  vast. 


THE  SPHINX  AND  PYRAMIDS  27 

Ikying  muffled  in,  fold  on  fold, 

With  the  gum  and  the  spice  and  the 

gold  enrolled ; 
And  the  grain  of  a  year  that  is  old,  old, 

old, 
Wound  around  in  the  fine-spun  fold. 

The  sunshine  of  Egypt  is  on  my  tomb ; 
I  feel  it  warming  the  still,  thick  gloom- ; 
Warming  and  waking  an  old  perfume 
From  the  carven  honors  upon  my  tomb. 

The  old  sunshine  of  Egypt  is  on  the  stone, 
And  the  sands  lie  red  that  the  wind  hath  strown 
And  the  lean,  lithe  lizard  at  play,  alone, 
Slides  like  a  shadow  across  the  stone. 

And  I  lie  with  the  Pyramid  over  my  head  ; 
I  am  lying  dead  ;*  lying  long,  long  dead  ; 
With  my  works  all  done  and  my  words  all  said, 
And  the  deeds  of  my  days  written  over  my  head. 
Dead  !     Dead  !     Dead  ! 

THE  SILENT  SPHINX 

But  a  wonderfully  interesting  companion  to  the 
Pyramids  is  the  Sphinx. 

Unlike  them,  its  acquaintance  should  not  be  made 
from  a  distance,  but  nearby,  as  its  greatest  height  is  but 
sixty-six  feet  from  the  base.  Its  face  is  that  of  a  man 
(not  a  woman's,  as  is  sometimes  supposed),  and  probably 
represents  the  features  of  King  Amenemhet  III. 
(Twelfth  Dynasty),  by  whom  it  may  have  been  con- 
structed. Its  body  is  in  the  form  of  a  recumbent  lion, 
with  its  front  paws  stretched  outward  on  the  ground, 
and  it  is  hewn  out  of  the  natural  bedrock. 

This  fascinating  face  of  stone  may  be  viewed  in  the 
bright  sunlight,  or  at  sunrise,  at  sunset,  by  moonlight,. 


PEN  SKETCHES 


or  even  in  the  night  by  the  aid  of  an  artificial  magne- 
sium light,  but  the  face  never  wearies,  never  disappoints. 
In  its  calm  and  sublime  dignity,  it  seems  to  represent 
Inexorable,  Passionless,  Eternal  Fate;  supremely  indif- 
ferent to  the  rise  and  fall  of  successive  dynasties  ;  treat- 
ing lightly  the  civilization  of  the  different  epochs; 
unawed  by  the  revelations  of  science  and  of  magic  ; 


unmoved  by  the  invasion  of  foreign  armies  and  the 
uprooting  of  ancient  customs  and  idols  ;  equally  indif- 
ferent to  the  indignity  of  having  its  nose  used  as  a  target 
by  gunners,  and  its  body  partly  buried  beneath  the 
shifting  sands  of  the  desert.  Passionless  the  face  may 
appear,  but  this  feature  is  perhaps  due  to  the  sculptor7 s 
skill,  and  not  to  its  absence.  Nowhere  have  I  seen  a 


THE  SPHINX  AND  PYRAMIDS  29 

face  in  stone  which,  has  so  haunted  me  since — a  face 
which  seemed  to  hold  the  power  of  revealing  the  most 
ancient  secrets  of  the  past,  but  which,  with  its  far-away 
look,  was  serenely  gazing  into  the  most  distant  future 
for  the  ultimate  consummation  of  things,  and  totally 
indifferent  to  the  transient  events  of  a  day,  a  century 
or  a  millennium. 

THE  SPHINX'S  REPLY 

With  its  weird  power  of  responding  to  the  varying 
fancies  and  emotions  of  the  observer,  who  can  tell  what 
it  said  to  Napoleon  at  the  battle  of  the  Pyramids;  to 
Saladin,  when  he  gained  supremacy  in  Egypt ;  to  Con- 
stantine,  when  considering  the  introduction  of  Chris- 


tianity  ;  to  Mark  Antony,  while  yielding  to  the  en- 
chantment of  Cleopatra  ;  to  Alexander  the  Great,  when 
planning  for  a  brilliant  and  progressive  Egyptian  em- 
pire; to  Moses,  while  receiving  his  education  in  the 
court  of  Pharaoh  ;  to  Joseph,  when  celebrating  his  wed- 
ding with  the  daughter  of  Potipherah  ;  and  to  the 
myriads  of  other  human  beings,  both  great  and  small, 
who,  during  five  thousand  years,  have  gazed  upon  that 
marvelous  face  ? 


PEN  SKETCHES 


To  each  one  it  no  doubt  told  a  different  tale — just  as 
it  does  today. 

The  Pyramids,  the  Sphinx,  the  Nile — three  rare 
links  in  the  chain  which  connects  the  most  ancient 
civilization  with  that  of  today.  And  when  we  begin 
to  realize  the  advanced  state  of  civilization  in  Egypt 
thousands  of  years  before  the  discovery  of  America,  and 
long  before  the  establishment  of  the  Roman  Empire,  we 
may  well  feel  that  a  closer  acquaintance  with  these  lega- 
cies of  the  past  may  serve  as  an  agreeable  diversion  amid 
the  rush  and  hurly-burly  of  the  Western  civilization  of 
today. 


After  eating,  in  the  open  desert,  our  evening  lunch, 
spread  out  upon  one  of  the  colossal  paws  of  the  Sphinx, 
and  while  absorbed  in  studying,  by  the  soft  light  of  the 
rising  moon,  the  weird  features  of  that  face  of  stone 
which  for  thousands  of  years  has  impassively  gazed  upon 
the  varying  fortunes  and  civilization  of  ancient  and 
modern  Egypt,  we  were  startled  by  hearing,  in  the  still 

night,  some  of  those  peculiar 
sounds  the  Arabs  call  music, 
and  which  became  so  familiar 
to  the  patrons  of  the  Midway 
during  the  World's  Fair. 

Our  Pyramid  guide,  who 
bore  the  distinguished  name  of 
Hassan,  then  informed  us  that 
his  brother  was  to  be  married 
the  following  morning,  and  he 
invited  us  to  witness  the  con- 
summation of  the  preparatory 
wedding  festivities  which  had 
been  in  progress  for  five  days. 

We  gladly  accepted  the  invitation  and  trudged 
through  the  heavy  sand  of  the  desert,  with  no  evidence  of 

31 


PEN  SKETCHES 


life  save  the  distant  musical  strains,  when  a  sharp  turn 
in  the  road  suddenly  revealed  a  sight  which  formed  a 

strange  contrast  to 
the  previous  solitude 
and  darkness. 

Before  us  appear- 
ed an  oblong  square 
formed  by  Arabs  of 
all  ages  and  sizes  and 
conditions,  clothed  in 
their  native  dress, 
squatting,  Turk  fash- 
ion, around  the  edge 
of  the  square.  In 

the  center  of  this  cu- 
rious group  was  a 
raised  platform  carpeted  with  matting,  and  surmounted 
with  a  bright  red  canopy,  ornamented  with  Oriental  fig- 
ures, festooned  with  gaily  colored  flags,  and  brilliantly 
illuminated  with  lamps  and  candelabra  suspended  from 
the  roof  of  the  canopy.  To  increase  the  brilliancy  of  the 
scene,  torches,  made  of  burlap  saturated  with  oil  and 
wrapped  around  poles,  were  also  lighted  at  intervals. 

Among  the  Arabs  all  was  life  and  commotion.  The 
incessant  chatter  which  one  hears  continually  among 
Arab  porters,  Arab  boatmen,  Arab  coachmen,  Arab 
guides,  Arab  merchants — in  fact,  all  who  talk  the  Arabic 
language — was  heard  as  usual. 

An  American  listening  to  this  vehement  chatter  for 
the  first  time  would  be  justified  in  suspecting  these 
Orientals  of  continually  quarreling,  but  he  soon  discovers 


BEDOUIN  WEDDING  FESTIVAL 


33 


that  the  peculiarly  explosive  sound  of  certain  Arabic 
words  may  at  times  express  affection  when  it  might  be 
mistaken  for  violent  feeling. 

Here  were  assembled  about  five  hundred  male  friends 
and  relatives  of  the  groom — but  no  women,  for  the 
Arab  rarely  escorts  his  female  friends  to  a  place  of  amuse- 
ment or  entertainment. 

Among  the  audience 
I  recognized  the  camel 
boy  who  had  persisted  in 
making  my  camel  trot  at 
a  most  hazardous  gait,  and 
who  pretended  not  to  un- 
derstand my  sharp  and 
emphatic  orders  to  have 
him  walk. 

I  also  recognized  the 
son  of  one  of  the  shekhs 
who,  in  eight  minutes, 
had  nimbly  run  up  to  the 
summit  and  down  to  the 
bottom  of  the  highest 
pyramid,  but  who  now 
experienced  difficulty  in  balancing  himself  on  top  of 
a  rickety  five  foot  ladder  which  two  other  guides  were 
supporting. 

The  man  who  assumed  the  management  of  the 
lighted  torch  may  have  imagined  himself  to  be  "Liberty 
Enlightening  the  World,"  for,  inflated  with  the  import- 
ance of  his  position,  he  brandished  the  torch  among 
the  flags  and  the  inflammable  roof  of  the  canopy  with 


34 


PEN  SKETCHES 


a  recklessness  which  would  have  paralyzed  an  Ameri- 
can fire  insurance  inspector,  while  his  equally  reckless 
jabs  among  the  bare  legs  of  the  Arabs 
would,  in  America,  have  resulted  in 
the  passage  of  fierce  resolutions  of 
protest  by  the  Society  for  the  Preven- 
tion of  Cruelty  to  Animals.  But  neither 
the  bunting  nor  the  legs  caught  fire, 
and  when  we  entered  the  assemblage 
every  one  seemed  glad  to  accord  us  the 
right  of  way;  to  place  seats  for  us  at 
the  best  and  most  conspicuous  point  of 
view,  and  to  treat  us  in  every  way  as 
special  and  honored  guests. 

I  soon  found  myself  confronted 
with  the  following  problem  concerning 
human  nature:  Every  one  who  has 
traveled  in  Oriental  countries  is  famil- 
iar with  the  term  "bak$£&A," 

The  word  originally  meant  "gift," 
and  it  may  still  be  employed  to  some  extent  in  that 
sense.  But  its  universal  meaning,  when  hurled  at 
travelers  by  the  natives,  is,  "Give  me  some  money" 

And  the  word  possesses  the  singular  power  of  mak- 
ing every  receiver  of  "bak-y^A"  crave  for  more,  and, 
in  the  majority  of  cases,  to  also  demand  more. 

You  may  pay  for  the  privilege  of  ascending  the 
Pyramids  (which  money  is  divided  among  the  several 
shekhs  who  control  the  district),  and  you  may  pay  for 
a  camel  ride,  or  a  donkey  ride,  or  for  any  other  privilege 
or  accommodation,  but  invariably  these,  as  well  as  all 


BEDOUIN  WEDDING  FESTIVAL  35 

other  Arabs  who  may  have  honored  you  with  a  glance, 
or  a  word,  or  a  pull,  or  a  push,  will  demand  "bakshish" 
in  addition,  regardless  of  how  liberal  your  first  payment 
may  have  been — provided  you  are  sized  up  as  being 
sufficiently  tender-hearted,  unsophisticated  or  exasper- 
ated to  yield  to  such  importunities. 

But  at  this  Arabian  festivity  no  one,  strange  to  say, 
asked  for  "bakshish." 

The  camel  boy  who  during  the  day  appeared  to 
have  *  *  bakshish J '  uppermost  in  mind  ;  the  son  of  a 
shekh  who  had  presented 
a  demand  for  two  shillings 
for  standing  on  the  Sphinx 
while  our  photographs 
were  being  taken ;  the 
guide  who  claimed  to  have 
given  an  additional  pull 
or  push  up  the  Pyramids, 
and  a  consequent  fee— 
these  and  all  the  other 
4 '  bakshish ' '  receivers  who  frequent  the  Pyramids  were 
all  there,  and  they  gave  us  a  most  cordial  welcome, 
seemed  proud  of  the  honor  of  sitting  near  us,  willingly 
gave  us  all  the  information  we  desired,  saw  that  new- 
comers did  not  obstruct  our  view — and  yet  not  a  single 
request  for  "bakshish1"  was  heard  ! 

From  what  I  have  learned  of  the  Arab's  real  nature, 
I  am  not  yet  able  to  determine  whether  the  genial 
sphere  of  friendly  hospitality  actually  excluded  the  sor- 
did idea  of  gain  (a  theory  which  most  Pyramid  visitors 
will  treat  with  incredulity)  or  whether  a  still  larger 


PEN  SKETCHES 


contribution  might  possibly  have  been  expected  as  a 
spontaneous  expression  of  appreciation,  such  as  some- 
times follows  the  enjoyment  of  that  which  is  novel  and 
entertaining. 

However,  it  is  more  pleasing  to  cherish  the  first 
view,  and  I  shall  adopt  it  in  spite  of  its  probable  unre- 
liability. 

A  wedding  ceremony  for  an  Arab  is  no  trifling 
affair,  even  though,  according  to  Moslem  ethics,  he  may 
marry  four  wives,  and  also  marry  the  fifth,  provided  he 
simply  sends  one  of  the  first  four  back  to  her  parents — 
if  living. 

I  don't  know  how  elaborately  the  event  is  cele- 
brated among  the  very  poor,  but  in  the  case  of  Hassan's 

brother,  who  was  re- 
puted to  own  consid- 
erable fertile  land  and 
whose  prospective  bride 
or  her  family  was  also 
reputed  to  be  well  off,  the 
preparatory  festivities 
had  occupied  five  days. 
During  the  day  the 
male  friends  enjoyed 
themselves  mainly  in 
equestrian  sports,  when 
upon  their  handsome 
Arab  steeds,  a  number 
of  riders  would  fly  like 
the  wind,  then  suddenly  stop — fire  off  their  guns — wheel 
around  and  run  as  rapidly  to  their  starting  point. 


BEDOUIN  WEDDING  FESTIVAL 


37 


The  fearlessness  and  perfect  poise  of  a  skilled  Arab 
horseman  is  beautiful  to  witness,  and  an  Arab  enjoys 
trie  sport  as  much  as  do  our  Western  cowboys. 

Towards  evening  lunch  was  provided  for  the  guests, 
and  two  buffalo  cows  slaughtered  to  furnish  the  neces- 
sary meat. 

The  bride  also  had  her  festivities,  but  only  among 
her  female  friends.  I  was  not  informed  of  what  they 


consist.  I  tried  to  find  out  for  myself  once  when,  in 
strolling  through  the  streets  of  a  Mohammedan  village, 
my  guide  mentioned  that  some  Oriental  wedding  festivi- 
ties were  being  celebrated  in  one  of  the  houses  we  were 
passing,  and  I  was  invited  to  call  upon  the  bridegroom, 
who  welcomed  me  most  cordially  and  insisted  that  I  join 
him  in  smoking  one  of  his  wedding  cigarettes. 

After  listening  to  the  so-called  music,  and  trying 
to  say  pleasant  things  through  the  interpreter,  I  expressed 
a  desire  to  pay  my  respects  to  the  bride. 


PEN  SKETCHES 


The  astonished  look  on  the  faces  of  the  men  proved 
that  this  suggestion  was  a  decided  innovation;  but  the 
groom  finally  consented  when  I  proposed  leaving  with 
the  bride  a  silver  souvenir.  I  was  then  conducted  to  a 
different  house  and  ushered  into  a  large  room  where  the 
prospective  bride,  elaborately  attired,  was  surrounded  by 
and  chatting  with  a  great  host  of  her  female  friends.  I 
confess  that  my  courage  was  put  to  a  test,  as  I  ran  this 
gauntlet  of  Oriental  women,  but  I  cordially  shook  hands 
with  the  bride,  and  through  the  interpreter  asked  her 
to  accept  from  an  American  traveler  his  wish  for  her 
future  domestic  happiness.  I  also  expressed  the  hope 
that  her  life  would  be  as  long  as  her  face  was  beautiful ; 
and  this  little  compliment  was  greeted  with  hilarious 
delight  by  her  many  friends  as  well  as  herself— for 
to  their  eyes  it  necessarily  implied  a  very  long  life. 

But  the  only  form  of  entertainment  I  could  discover 
among  these  Oriental  ladies  was 
"  chatting, "  and  for  this  simple 
and  inexpensive  amusement  the 
Arab  appears  to  be  especially  well 
qualified  by  his  natural  endow- 
ments. 

Bat  to  return  to  the  festivi- 
ties at  the  Pyramids. 

So-called  music  was  first 
furnished  by  Arabs  upon  their 
native  instruments;  and  I  recog- 
nized the  same  old  tune  of  the 
Midway.  I  have  been  told  the  Arabs  have  one 
or  two  other  tunes,  but  I  don't  recall  having  been 


BEDOUIN  WEDDING  FESTIVAL 


as  we  re-entered  the  gloomy  presence  of  the  Sphinx,  its 
face,  in  the  pale  light  of  the  moon,  looked  down  upon 
us  like  a  familiar  shade  from  the  dim  and  misty  past,  and 
its  strangely  significant  smile  might  have  been  inter- 
preted as  a  disdainful  sneer  at  the  simple  Oriental 
festivities  we  had  just  witnessed,  and  as  a  suggestive 
hint  of  the  marvelous  tales  she  could  tell  of  Oriental 
magnificence  and  voluptuousness  which  marked  those 
ancient  festivities  when  Egypt  was  the  proud  mistress 
of  the  civilized  world,  or  when  Cleopatra  wove  her 
seductive  spells  over  Mark  Antony. 


e^ryaxie 

y » 


(Published  in  Evening  Bulletin} 

One  of  the  pleasing  impressions  which  travelers 
frequently  carry  away  from  Venice  is  the  serenade  which 
generally  greets  them  on  the  first  night  of  their  arrival. 

To  look  out  from  the  hotel  balcony,  over  the  Grand 
Canal,  and  see,  in  the  moonlight,  myriads  of  gondolas 
noiselessly  gliding  hither  and  thither,  with  their  small 
lanterns,  suggestive  of  the  weird  flickering  of  the  will- 
o'-the-wisp;  and  then  to  hear  a  chorus  of  lusty  Italian 
voices  singing  merry,  enlivening  songs  in  their  gaily 
illuminated  boats,  lifts  the  mind  out  of  the  atmosphere 
of  the  commonplace  and  introduces  it  into  a  realm  of 
poetic  fancy. 

But  occasionally  the  canals  of  Venice  assume  a  still 
brighter  hue  and  a  more  animated  scene. 

During  the  time  of  the  popular  regattas,  the  gaily 
decorated  and  illuminated  gondolas,  the  brightly  attired 
participants,  and  the  illuminations  of  varied  colors 
along  the  shores,  form  a  unique  scene  of  picturesque 
beauty  which  can  be  found  in  its  entirety  only  in  this 
historic  city  of  lagoons. 

Our  stay  in  Venice,  fortunately,  occurred  during  the 
time  of  their  recent  Grand  Serenade. 

In  connection  with  the  International  Art  Exhibi- 
tion, which  was  then  being  held,  a  serenade  was  planned 

(42) 


VENETIAN  SERENADE  43 


upon  an  elaborate  scale.  A  large  float  for  the  accom- 
modation of  the  orchestra  and  singers  was  built,  which 
apparently  was  drawn  through  the  water  by  a  colossal 
peacock  with  extended  tail,  and  in  which  the  gorgeous 
plumage  of  the  natural  bird  was  reproduced  with  mar- 
velous effect  by  the  ingenious  arrangement  of  thousands 


of  small  lamps  of  various  hues  and  tints,  while  the 
canopy  covering  the  musicians  was  also  composed  of 
innumerable  small  lights. 

The  appearance  of  this  gorgeously  illuminated  bird, 
with  its  bright  reflection  in  the  water,  as  it  slowly  glided 
down  the  Grand  Canal,  was,  of  itself,  a  sight  not  quickly 
forgotten. 


44 


PEN  SKETCHES 


But  that  was  not  all.  Surrounding  the  float  and 
appearing  as  an  escort,  were  a  thousand  or  more  gondo- 
las filled  with  people,  while  from  stations  along  the 
shore  appeared  at  intervals  a  grand  illumination  of  red 
light,  then  green,  then  violet,  which  lit  up  the  marble 
face  of  the  palaces  and  churches  with  a  new  beauty,  and 
cast  over  the  water  a  soft  radiance  of  rich  coloring. 


And  the  music  on  this  occasion  was  not  the  effort 
of  the  ordinary  street,  or,  rather,  "canal"  serenaders  ; 
but  included  the  orchestra,  the  soloists  and  chorus  of  the 
Grand  Opera  Company.  The  music  began  before  nine 
o'clock,  as  the  float  started  from  one  end  of  the  Grand 
Canal,  and  was  continued  until  nearly  midnight,  when 
the  last  serenade  was  given  as  the  procession  halted  in 
front  of  St.  Mark's  Square. 

And  the  program  was  varied  with   instrumental 


VENETIAN  SERENADE  45 

selections,  vocal  solos,  duets  and  quartets,  and  inter- 
spersed with  the  deep,  rich  harmonies  of  the  well- 
trained  chorus;  and  as  the  music  penetrated  the  still  air 
with  peculiar  clearness  and  richness,  it  seemed  like  a 
symphony  from  the  sky  whose  soft  echoes  finally  died 
away  on  the  water,  while  the  floating  mass  of  brilliant 
radiance  slowly  and  majestically  moved  onward  in  its 
course.  It  may  be  needless  to  add  that  each  musical 


selection  was  followed  by  tumultuous  applause  from 
those  in  the  gondolas,  as  well  as  from  the  thousands 
who  lined  the  shores. 

ANCIENT  VENETIAN  SPLENDOR 

This  brilliant  serenade  naturally  recalled  to  mind 
those  ancient  days  of  Venetian  splendor  and  glory, 
when  the  commerce  of  this  little  republic  uon  stilts*' 
extended  to  many  parts  of  the  civilized  world,  and  its 
military  prowess  accomplished  the  defeat  of  the  Turks 


46  PEN  SKETCHES 


in  Syria,  the  Greeks  in  the  Peloponnesus,  and  the  kings 
of  Hungary  in  Dalmatia. 

In  those  brilliant  days  when  its  palaces,  instead  of 
performing  the  functions  of  a  hotel,  were  adorned  with 
the  art  treasures  of  the  world  ;  when  its  harbor  was 
crowded  with  ships  of  commerce  ;  when  its  ware- 
houses were  stored  with  valuable  merchandise  ;  when 
the  doges  entertained  upon  a  scale  of  lavish  luxury,  and 
when  the  rivalry  to  possess  the  most  costly  and  gorgeous 
gondolas  threatened  ruin  and  bankruptcy  among  the 
leaders  of  fashion,  and  caused  the  enactment  of  the 
law  requiring  all  future  gondolas  to  be  plain  black — in 
those  brilliant  days  of  Venetian  splendor  it  is  easy  to 
picture  in  the  mind  gorgeous  and  magnificent  spectacles 
upon  the  Grand  Canal,  of  which  the  Grand  Serenade 
furnishes  but  a  meagre  hint. 

ITS  ORIGIN 

To  the  visitor  in  Venice  the  question  naturally 
arises  why  the  founders  of  this  city  should  have  chosen 
a  location  which  required  the  driving  of  piles  as  a 
foundation  to  their  buildings,  and  the  use  of  number- 
less canals  for  intercourse  among  its  citizens. 

But  inquiry  into  its  early  history  discloses  shrewd 
foresight  upon  the  part  of  its  founders,  and  also  demon- 
strates the  remarkable  adaptability  of  the  human  race 
to  successfully  meet,  and  to  thrive  under,  entirely  new 
conditions. 

In  the  fifth  century  the  invasion  of  the  barbarians 
was  so  complete  that  the  inhabitants  of  Padua  and 
adjacent  towns  despaired  of  finding  any  degree  of  safety 


SERENADE 


47 


upon  the  dry  land,  and  therefore  fled  to  the  reefs  of  sand 
and  mud  embankments  which  had  accumulated  at  the 
mouth  of  the  different 
streams  in  what  are 
known  as  the  Lagoons  of 
the  Adriatic.  As  the  inun- 
dations of  the  Nile  doubt-  _-| 
less  developed  among  the 
ancient  Egyptians  the  arts 
of  river  engineering,  sur- 


Touwj»»i». 


veying,    astronomy,    the 

judiciary  and  other  forms 

of  civilization,  so  the  problems  growing  out  of  the  pecul- 
iar conditionssurrounding 
the  Venetians  no  doubt 
developed  the  art  of  build- 
ing massive  structures 
upon  piles  ;  their  famil- 
iarity with,  and  constant 
activity  upon,  the  water 
led  to  the  development 
of  shipbuilding,  and  the 
extensive  navigation  of 
other  waters;  their  con- 
venient geographical  lo- 
cation made  them  a  nat- 
ural exchange  for  the  pro- 
ducts of  the  then  known 
world;  while  their  unique 
protection  from  attack> 

both  by  land  and  sea,  stimulated  their  military  prowess 


48 


PEN  SKETCHES 


and   ambition,  which   led   even   to   the  subjugation  of 
Constantinople. 

The  climax  of  the  power  and  splendor  of  Venice 
was  probably  reached  near  the  end  of  the  sixteenth  cen- 
tury; but  the  discoveries  of  America  and  the  Cape  of 
Good  Hope  are  said  to  have  weakened  her  commercial 

position,  and  in  1797  she  was 
conquered  by  Napoleon,  and 
controlled  by  Austria  until 
1866,  when  she  was  ceded 
first  to  France,  and  in  the 
same  year  to  Victor  Em- 
manuel. 

ST.  MARK'S  SQUARE 

But,  notwith- 
standing   the    de- 
parture of  ancient 
Venetian  splendor, 
the    city  still    re- 
tains     sufficient 
unique  and  pictur- 
esque features   to 
make   it  one  of  the  interesting  cities   of   the   world. 
Where  else  can  be  found  a  public  square,  or  piazza, 
so  beautiful  as  St.  Mark's  Square? 

Lined  with  bright  shops,  filled  with  attractive 
souvenirs,  artistic  jewelry,  well  executed  pictures,  unique 
effects  in  Venetian  glass,  mosaic  and  figures,  which 
threaten  the  depletion  of  the  pocketbook  and  indelibly 
impress  upon  the  memory  the  name  of  Testolini;  and, 


VENETIAN  SEREN/tDE 


49 


facing  the  mosaic  front  of  the  church  of  St.  Mark's,  with 
its  historic  bronze  horses,  and  with  its  side  wing,  or 
piazetta,  bordered  by  the  Palace  of  the  Doges 
and  leading  to  the  pillars  surmounted  with  the 
lion  of  St.  Mark's  and  the  crocodile,  and  open- 
ing up  a  view  of  the  Grand  Canal  at  its  widest 
part,  close  by  the  celebrated  uBridge  of  Sighs' 
— who  ever  tires  of  this  beautiful  piazza  ? 

The  effect  of  the  square  when  illuminated 
at  night  is  most  brilliant,  but  even  in  the 
sober  and  searching  light  of  day  the  picture 
never  grows  weari- 
some, for  it  may  be 
varied  at  will  by 
feeding  the  tame 
pigeons  which  alight 
on  your  shoulder  or 
wrist  and  pick  grains 
of  corn  from  your 
hand;  or  by  ascending  the  tall  bell  tower,  up  which 
Napoleon  rode  on  horseback,  and  there  obtain 
a  bird's  eye  view  of  the  city  and  the  Adriatic. 

GONDOLIERING 
SIGHTS 


But  probably  the 
most  novel  feature 
in  Venice  is  to  glide 

through  its  streets  of  water  in  a  black  gondola 
propelled  by  the  peculiar  stroke  of  the  gon- 
dolier as  he  stands  alert  on  the  rear  deck. 


PEN  SKETCHES 


To  lazily  glide  along  in  this  manner  suggests,  in 
itself,  a  sort  of  holiday  feature  ;  makes  an  impression 
somewhat  akin  to  that  of  being  at  the  World's  Fair  or 
some  other  place  not  subject  to  the  regulations  of  an 
ordinary  commercial  city — especially  when  you  recog- 
nize, in  an  approaching  gondola,  a  friend  or  casual 

acquaintance  last  seen  in  Paris, 
or  on  the  Pyramid,  or  in  the 
Yosemite. 

Along  the  Grand  Canal 
may  be  seen  palace  after  palace 
of  historic  interest;  and  even 
in  the  smaller  canals  may  be 
seen  large  palaces  which  in 
former  times  were  the  scene  of 
lavish  entertainment. 

Some  of  these  canals  are 
extremely  narrow,  but  most  of 
them  are  sufficiently  wide  to 
enable  the  gondolier  to  rapidly 
propel  his  boat,  skilfully  turn 
corners  (after  having  uttered  a  warning  call),  and  fre- 
quently apparently  steer  directly  into  a  door  post  or  other 
gondola,  but  always  avoiding  them  at  the  very  moment 
they  seemed  certain  to  collide. 

The  skill  of  the  average  Venetian  gondolier  is 
almost  marvelous,  for  cases  of  serious  collision  or  cap- 
sizing and  consequent  drowning  are  said  to  be  remark- 
ably rare.  In  the  Grand  Serenade,  to  which  I  have 
alluded,  at  least  a  thousand  gondolas  and  many  hundred 
other  boats  weie  all  huddled  together  in  a  close  mass  and 


VENETIAN  SERENADE 


moving  along  with  the  float,  but  there  were  no  accidents 
that  I  could  learn  of. 

Brownings  are,  however,  frequently  reported  of 
infants  who,  in  disobeying  the  parental  instruction  not 
to  leave  the  stoop,  make  .•  v  •  %  .  v.  /;;**,... 

an  unexpected  plunge 
into  the  canal.  But  the 
Venetian  boy  and  girl 
learn  to  swim  so  early  in 
life  that  such  an  accident 
is  likely  to  occur  only 
with  the  very  young. 
And  inasmuch  as  water 
constitutes  the  main 
thoroughfares  of  this  city, 
and  as  the  inhabitants 
have  from  time  imme- 
morial learned  to  swim,  it 
might  be  argued  that  in 
the  course  of  many  gen- 
erations the  natural  in- 
stinct of  swimming  would 
be  transmitted  to  their 
offspring;  but  the  history 
of  numerous  refractory 
Venetian  youngsters  fails  to  support  this  entertaining 
theory. 

The  amusing  spectacle  of  a  Venetian  woman  on  her 
front  stoop,  completing  her  toilet,  or  swishing  her 
laundry  through  the  water  of  the  canal,  suggests  a 
domestic  convenience  and  economy  in  the  canal  system 


PEN  SKETCHES 


which  some  might  appreciate;  but  "  gondoliering " 
through  the  narrow  canals  at  a  time  when  the  tide  is 
low  liberates  an  odor  which  at  first  is  quite  obnoxious, 
but  which,  like  all  other  details  of  our  regular  environ- 
ment, becomes  more  or  less  endurable  in  proportion  to 

its  familiarity. 

*  *  *  * 

But  in  spite  of  the  pleasure  and  the  picturesqueness 
of  Venetian  u gondoliering"  when  the  air  is  balmy, 
when  the  sky  is  clear,  or  when  the  light  of  the  full 
moon  imparts  a  silvery  sheen  to  the  water  which  here 
and  there  is  darkened  with  grotesque  shadows,  it  is  only 
necessary  to  take  the  same  trip  when  the  damp  and  icy 
air  of  winter  settles  between  the  stone  houses  and  in  the 
narrow  canals ;  or  to  visit  the  opera  on  a  dark  night, 
with  the  rain  pouring  down  in  torrents  and  the  waves 
dashing  the  boat  from  side  to  side — -it  is  only  necessary 
to  try  one  such  experiment  to  convince  the  traveler  that, 
after  all,  as  a  matter  of  everyday  comfort  and  utility 
the  gondolas  of  Venice  are  less  desirable  than  the  con- 
ventional American  hack,  or  even  the  trolley  cars  of 
Philadelphia. 


(Published  in  /fc£/*V:  Ledger] 


The  hurried  tourist,  who  is  forced  to  limit  his  stay 
in  Jerusalem  to  but  one  or  two  days,  particularly  during 
the  rainy  season,  is  apt  to  carry  away  with  him  rather 
gruesome  impressions. 

The  obtrusive  exhibitions  of  extreme  poverty;  the 
pitiful  specimens  of  disfigured  and  diseased  mendicants; 
the  unsanitary  condition  of  the  streets;  the  miserable 
dwellings,  and  the  peculiarly  repugnant  odor  emanating 
from  these  conditions,  under  which  exist  a  compact  mass 
of  human  beings  who 

.        , 

manifest  an  inherent 
dislike  to  the  bath 
and  laundry, not  only 
grate  upon  the  moral 
and  physical  sensi- 
bilities of  an  Amer- 
ican, but  even  threat- 
en the  impairment  of 
his  appetite. 

But  several  days'  familiarity  with  these  sights  and 
odors,  coupled  with  the  reminder  that,  after  all,  social 

53 


THE.lEpe.fy* 


54 


PEN  SKETCHES 


misery  or  happiness  is  largely  dependent  upon  the  native 
training  and  environment  of  the  individual,  enable  us 

to  discover  underneath  this 
unpromising  exterior  much 
that  is  unique  and  pictur- 
esque in  this  city,  whose  site 
was  mentioned  four  thou- 
sand years  ago  as  the  strong- 
hold of  the  Jebusites;  whose 
early  temple  and  palaces 
commemorated  the  genius  of 
Solomon,  and  near  which 
was  enacted  the  most  sublime 
tragedy  in  human  history. 
The  magnificent  Jeru- 
salem of  the  Israelites — the 

Holy  City  of  David — with  its  gorgeous  palaces  and 
wonderful  temple,  is,  however,  no  more.  Its  ruins  may 
eventually  be  excavated,  if  the  spade  of  the  investigator 
will  dig  down  from  thirty  to  one  hundred  feet  through 
the  debris  which  hides  the  ruins  of  the  ancient  city  from 
modern  eyes.  But  modern  Jerusalem  can  boast  of  no 
buildings  erected  prior  to  its  entire  destruction  by  Titus, 
in  the  first  century,  and  the  architecture  of  Jerusalem  of 
today  could  be  justly  called  a  burlesque  upon  the  genius 
of  Solomon  as  a  builder. 

THE  STORES  AND  TRADING 

To  ascend  or  descend  its  narrow  streets  (for  none  are 
level),  and  to  pass  under  their  low- vaulted  ceilings,  re- 
minds the  traveler  of  subterranean  passages  or  catacombs. 


MODERN  JERUSALEM 


55 


The  arched  vaults  or  caves  lining  these  alleged 
streets  in  the  business  portion  of  the  city  furnish  the 
shops  for  the  trading  among 
the  natives.  They  are  usu- 
ally large  enough  to  allow 
goods  to  be  piled  upon  the 
three  sides  of  the  vault,  with 
sufficient  room  in  the  center 
for  the  proprietor  (who  per- 
forms all  the  various  func- 
tions incident  to  shopkeep- 1 f 

ing),  and  allow  additional 
space  for  two,  and  sometimes 
three  or  four  customers;  but 
four  is  generally  the  limit. 

One  vault  may  dispose  of  dry  goods ;  another  notions ; 
another  groceries  (from  the  eating  of  which  may  all 
Philadelphians  be  delivered!);  another  fresh  meats; 
another  sandals  and  slippers;  another  tinware;  another 
wax  candles  and  religious  emblems,  and  so  on  until  one 
or  more  vaults  may  be  found  for  the  sale  of  all  such  arti- 
cles as  are  commonly  used  by  the  natives. 

But  Jerusalemites  apparently  don't  favor  the  depart- 
ment store  idea.  Bach  little  shop  has  its  separate 
proprietor,  and  the  value  of  the  entire  stock  of  the 
average  store  would  not  equal  in  amount  a  single  good- 
sized  sale  in  many  American  retail  stores. 

The  Oriental  method  of  trading  is  unique.  I  would 
enjoy  seeing  it  tried  in  Wanamaker's,  Darlington's  or 
Caldwell's.  The  customer  asks  the  price  of  an  article, 
and  the  shopkeeper  names  it,  declaring  at  the  same  time, 


PEN  SKETCHES 


with  the  utmost  fervor,  that  never  before  had  he  named 
so  low  a  price.  The  customer  thereupon  cautiously 
offers  a  fraction  of  the  price  named,  and  calls,  with  equal 
fervor,  upon  a  number  of  her  favorite  saints  to  witness 
that  she  will  not  pay  any  more.  The  shopkeeper  then 
slightly  modifies  his  former  price,  but  at  the  same  time 
ejaculates  a  prayer  to  be  forgiven  for  making  such  a 


sacrifice.  The  customer  then  makes  a  slight  advance, 
and  calls  upon  some  more  of  her  patron  saints  to  witness 
that  she  will  absolutely  pay  no  more.  And  thus  they 
make  their  adroit  moves  back  and  forth,  until  a  price  is 
finally  agreed  upon,  and  both  instinctively  offer  up  a 
secret  prayer  of  thanksgiving  for  having  so  shrewdly 
outwitted  the  other. 

But  to  stroll  through  David  Street  and  Christian 
Street  (a  gross  slander  upon  both  names),  and  through 


MODERN  JERUSALEM  57 

many  other  nameless  streets,  proves  most  interesting — 
after  you  have  become  inured  to  the  odor.  All  street 
without  pavement,  or  all  pavement  without  street  (which- 
ever way  you  choose  to  describe  them),  and  only  from 
six  to  twelve  feet  wide. 

Here  may  be  seen  rows  of  women  clad  in  a  single 
coarse  cotton  garment  (with  the  thermometer  at  55 
degrees),  modestly  obscuring  their  faces  behind  gro- 
tesque veils,  but  amusingly  oblivious  to  the  exposure  of 
their  bare  feet  and  limbs,  and  spending  an  entire  day  in 
disposing,  for  a  few  piastres,  a  basket  of  onions,  or  eggs, 
or  carrots,  or  potatoes,  or  kindling  wood ! 

STREET  SCENES 

Winding  your  way  through  these  narrow  streets,  a 
sudden  thump  on  the  shoulder  may  inform  you  that  the 
right  of  way  is  being  claimed 
by  a  donkey,  upon  whose  two 
sides  immense  boxes  of  veg- 
etables, or  meat,  or  charcoal, 
take  up  the  entire  width  of 
the  street. 

You  may  witness  a  spec- 
imen of  Oriental  gallantry  in  the  swarthy  Arab  seated 
upon  the  haunches  of  a  diminutive  donkey,  while  the 
care  of  two  other  heavily  laden  donkeys  is  entrusted  to 
his  frail  and  barefooted  wife,  who  trudges  after  them  to 
goad  or  encourage. 

In  the  open  street  may  be  seen  the  itinerant  barber 
clipping  the  hair  of  a  customer,  who  kneels  before  him 
with  such  apparent  reverence  as  to  suggest  the  observ- 


PEN  SKETCHES 


anceof  his  Moslem  devotions,  while  the  barber  is  earning 
his  fee. 

In  the  middle  of  one  business  street  may  be  seen 
a  mammoth  camel,  gravely  chewing  his 
feed  with  appropriate  dignity. 

The  peculiar  looking  carcasses  car- 
ried on  the  backs  of  donkeys  are  but  the 
ancient  hides  of  goats  or  sheep  restored 
to  their  original  shape  while  serving  as 
water  bottles  ;  while  a  smaller  carcass 
strung  upon 
the  arm  of  a 
street  vender 
supplies  the 
thirsty  with 
a  beverage 
resembling 
beer. 

In  the  Jewish  grain  mar- 
ket may  be  seen  the  meas- 
urement of  grain,  literally 
"good  measure,  heaped  up, 
shaken  together  and  running 
over" — a  form  of  measure- 
ment from  which  the  more 
advanced  Hebrew  in  other 
countries  doubtless  considers 
himself  happily  emancipated. 
In  the  dark  recesses  of 

these  vaults  may  be  seen  the  mechanic,  straining  his  eyes 
in  the  darkness  and  again  straining  them  in  the  intense 


MODERN  JERUSALEM  59 

glare  of  the  bright  sunlight,  thereby  aggravating  those 
diseases  of  the  eye  which  are  so  common  among  Orientals. 

And  everywhere,  from  the  infant 
whose  lips  have  been  taught  no  other 
word  up  to  the  aged  and  decrepit  mendi- 
cant who  suggests  a  possible  escape  from 
the  tomb,  you  may  hear  the  cry  of  ' '  Bak- 
shish! bakshish!  bakshish!" 

The  plaintive  tone  in  which  this 
universal  prayer  for  alms  is  made  by 
Orientals  may  give  the  novice  the  im- 
pression  of  intense  suffering  and  unhappi-  ^- 
ness,  but  when  he  discovers  how  quickly 
the  piteous  tone  can  be  changed  into 
laughter  or  rage,  he  may  be  justified  in  suspecting 
that  the  tune  is  taught  very  much  the  same  as  the  old 
song  of  " Tomatoes!  Red  ripe  tomatoes!"  was  taught 
to  the  old-time  street  hucksters  of  Philadelphia. 

And  yet,  amid  this  complex  mass  of  human  beings, 
crowded  together  so  closely  in  the  business  districts  as 
to  constantly  jostle  each  other,  and,  notwithstanding 
their  fierce  gesticulations  and  ejaculations,  most  of  the 
people  appear  to  mind  their  own  business  and  not  inter- 
fere with  their  neighbors. 

The  native  Jew,  with  a  long  curl  dangling  from  each 
temple;  the  full-bearded  Greek  priest,  in  his  long  black 
robe  and  tall,  round  hat,  and  with  hair  grown  to  its 
natural  length,  sometimes  flowing  and  sometimes  coiled 
in  a  roll  like  a  woman's;  the  Arab,  with  his  tawny  skin 
and  frequently  commanding  figure;  the  Copt,  the  Afri- 
can, the  Dervishes,  the  Abyssinian  and  the  Armenian 


6o 


PEN  SKETCHES 


are  all  to  be  seen;  and  in  many  instances  the  costume 
resembles  the  lining  of  a  discarded  coat,  which,  as  it  in 


turn  became  worn  out  in  parts,  was  replaced  by  a  patch 

from  a  discarded  calico  skirt  or  a  discarded  bedspread, 
or  a  discarded  animal  skin,  or  a  dis- 
carded jute  sack  ;  or,  when  no  dis- 
carded material  could  be  found  for 
patching,  the  space  was  allowed  to 
remain  blank  until  a  piece  of  some 
discarded  material  was  providentially 
furnished.  It  has  been  argued  that, 
in  consequence  of  this  process  of  per- 
petual patching,  the  same  garment  is 
frequently  handed  down  from  genera- 
tion to  generation,  on  the  same  prin- 
ciple that  the  human  body  continues 
to  belong  to  the  same  individual, 

although  renewed  in  all  its  parts  every  seven  years. 

But  while  this  historic  city,  as  it  exists  today — with 


MODERN  JERUSALEM 


61 


its  curious  and  grotesque  medley  of  inhabitants,  without 
a  single  place  of  public  amusement,  and  in  which  the 
watchman  gives  a  warning  whistle  whenever  a  stray 
traveler  ventures  into  the  street  after  dark — may,  at  times, 
be  described  in  a  spirit  of  levity,  we  experience  a  different 
feeling  when  we  turn  to  the  religious  features,  which 
have  drawn  devout  pilgrims  from  all  parts  of  the  world, 


VIA 

OOLOJ\0 


and  in  whom  we  find  a  peculiar  combination  of  sincere 
reverence,  childlike  credulity  and  a  blind  and  passionate 
devotion  for  all  so-called  sacred  things. 

For  instance,  Via  Dolorosa  is  represented  as  being 
the  identical  road  which  the  Saviour  trod  in  passing 
from  the  judgment  hall  to  Calvary,  and  seven  distinct 
stations  are  marked  to  indicate  the  different  incidents  of 


62 


PEN  SKETCHES 


that  journey.  This  road  leads  into  the  Church  of  the 
Holy  Sepulchre,  in  which  the  alleged  sites  of  Calvary 
and  the  Saviour's  tomb  are  supposed  to  be  found. 

Those  who  will  take  the  pains  to  inquire  may  ascer- 
tain that  Jerusalem  was  entirely  destroyed  by  Titus,  A.  D. 
70,  and  no  record  of  the  street  now  called  Via  Dolorosa  can 
be  found  earlier  than  the  fourteenth  century.  Neverthe- 
less, on  Good  Friday  thousands  of  natives  and  pilgrims 
travel  over  this  road  with  the  devout  belief  that  they  are 
literally  walking  in  the  footsteps  of  their  L,ord,  and  then 

enter  the  gloomy  interior  of  that 
historic  church,  in  which  cordons 
of  soldiers  are  required  to  preserve 
order  and  to  prevent  a  repetition 
of  the  horrible  scenes  of  blood- 
shed which  on  more  than  one 
occasion  attended  the  crowding 
together  of  these  fanatical  pil- 
grims of  many  diverse  sects. 

The  sight  of  these  pilgrims 
in  the  Church  of  the  Holy  Sepul- 
chre is  interesting  to  every  stu- 
dent of  human  nature. 

Take,  for  instance,  a  band  of 
Russian  pilgrims — the  men  with 
their  square  faces  and  long,  thick 
hair,  and  with  that  stolid  expression  which  indicates 
unusually  dull  and  limited  comprehension  ;  and  the 
women,  with  unshapely  figures  and  somber  faces,  warmly 
clad  in  thick  coats  and  wearing  men's  stout,  high  boots. 
These  people  are  not  picturesque.  The  world  must 


MODERN  JERUSALEM  63 

look  very  dull  and  very  small  to  them;  but  the  passion- 
ate reverence  with  which  these  pilgrims  kiss  the  marble 
slab  represented  as  covering  the  tomb  of  the  lyord;  their 
reverent  regard  for  all  objects  accredited  as  sacred,  and 
their  well  modulated  chanting  in  their  chapel  during 
worship,  is  a  sight  which  none  can  forget. 

These  simple-minded  pilgrims  spend  no  time  in 
questioning  the  exact  location  of  the  sacred  points  of 
interest,  but  devoutly  believe  that  in  their  pilgrimage 


to  Jerusalem  they  have  attained  the  supreme  object  of 
their  natural  life. 

And  the  devotion  an  1  reverence  of  these  simple- 
mi  nrk  d  Russian  peasants  suggest  the  query  whether,  after 
all,  the  exact  geograp'.ical  location  of  sacred  places  is  not 
of  minor  :inporta:;ce  to  that  of  imbuing  the  mind  and 
heart  of  the  believer  with  a  new  inspiration  and  elevation. 

CALVARY  AND  THE  SEPULCHRE 

Outside  the  city  wall,  however,  is  a  hill,  sloping  on 
three  sides,  and  precipitous  on  the  fourth  side,  which 


PEN  SKETCHES 


faces  the  city,  and  shows  on  one  side  certain  depres- 
sions which  bear  a  striking  resemblance  to  a  skull.  This 
spot  is  believed  by  many  to  be  Calvary,  and  in  a  garden 
at  its  base  was  discovered,  not  many  years  ago,  under  a 
great  mass  of  debris,  an  arched  entrance  into  a  chamber, 
cut  into  the  solid  rock,  and  which  contained  an  ancient 
tomb,  which  singularly  corresponds  to  the  description 
of  the  one  in  which  the  body  of  the  Saviour  lay. 

But,  while  reasonable  doubt  may  always  exist  as  to 


the  authenticity  of  the  above  sites,  there  appears  to  be 
no  difference  of  opinion  regarding  the  location  of  the 
Mount  of  Olives  and  the  Garden  of  Gethsemane.  And 
on  this  mount,  away  from  the  distracting  noise,  the  jar- 
gon, the  odors  and  the  sights  of  the  city  of  modern  Jeru- 
salem, and  with  the  peaceful  valley  below  us,  the  his- 
toric hills  around  us,  and  the  refreshing  odors  of  the 
green  fields  permeating  the  atmosphere,  the  reverent 
mind  can  find  a  peaceful  inspiration  in  recalling  the 


MODERN  JERUSALEM 


memorable  scenes  enacted  here  at  the  dawn  of  that  era 
which  marked  so  vital  a  step  in  human  history. 

BETHLEHEM 

But  a  visit  to  Jerusalem  is  not  complete  without  a 
companion  visit  to  the  little  town  of  Bethlehem,  only 
six  miles  away. 

Following  the  road  taken  by  the  Wise  Men  from 
the  Hast  (so  graphically  described  in  "Ben  Hur"),  and 
stopping  for  a  moment  at  the  well  in  which,  according 
to    the    popular    and    harmless 
legend,    they     saw     the     reflec- 
tion of  the  star  which  directed 
them  to  the  manger  of  the  new- 
born King;  passing  the  tomb  of 
Rachel,  on  which  site,  over  three 
thousand  years  ago,  the  heroine 
of  that  ancient  love  story  was 
buried  by  her  devoted  lover,  who 
cheerfully   toiled   fourteen   years 
in  order  to  gain  his  bride;  then, 
entering  the  town  of  Bethlehem, 

we  are  greeted  with  the  happy  faces  of  the  native  chil- 
dren, who,  rollicking  in  their  rugged  simplicity  and  in 
their  bright  red  jackets,  make  a  picturesque  scene  of 
childish  cheerfulness  which  most  travelers  recall  with 
delight 

The  place  pointed  out  as  the  birthplace  of  the 
Saviour  appears  to  have  been  regarded  as  authentic  ever 
since  the  early  part  of  the  second  century.  It  is  to  be 
found  in  a  natural  cave  or  grotto  in  a  hill  adjacent  to 


TOM  5) 


66 


PEN  SKETCHES 


an  ancient  inn,  and  is  similar  to  many  places  still  used 
in    Palestine   as   a  stable,  and  in   many   instances   as 

dwellings.  The 
place  of  nativity 
and  the  place  of 
the  manger  are 
both  marked  by 
simple  and  unos- 
tentatious chap- 
els, and  it  is  with 
feelings  of  pro- 
found reverence 
that  one  gazes  on 
this  humble  and 
obscure  birthplace 

which  marked  the  inauguration  of  a  new  realm  of  power 
for  controlling  the 
mind  and  heart  of 
men,  and  perpetually 
widening  in  power 
and  scope,  while, 
during  the  same 
period,  the  preten- 
tious military  power 
of  imperial  Rome 
crumbled  into  dust. 

In  the  presence 
of  this  humble  birth- 
place, and  with  the 
mind  reverently  re- 
calling the  subse- 


MODERN  JERUSALEM 


quent  history  of  the  unostentatious  Nazarene  citizen 
and  carpenter,  the  comforter  of  the  sorrowing,  the  healer 
of  the  afflicted,  the  companion  of  the  lowly,  the  reprover 
of  religious  intolerance  and  hypocrisy — how  contemptible 
appears  the  attitude  of  the  haughty,  the  arrogant,  the 
purse  proud,  the  oppressor,  the  intolerant,  whether  he  be 
of  church,  or  state,  or  in  private  life  1 


f  tttO  Or 


And  if  we  walk  to  the  brow  of  the  hill  and  over- 
look the  charming  and  peaceful  valley  in  which  that 
divine  proclamation  was  heralded  to  the  rude,  unlettered, 
but  simple-hearted  shepherds  of  old ;  and  if  we  peer  into 
the  remote  future  of  human  history,  may  we  not  fore- 
see, in  the  distant  ages,  a  picture  of  Pagan,  Moslem, 
Jew  and  Christian,  all  rising  above  the  petty  prejudices 
created  by  their  individual  interests  and  environment, 


68 


PEN  SKETCHES 


and  joyfully  acknowledging  the  universal  Brotherhood 
of  Man  and  the  common  inheritance  of  one  Divine 
Father? 

And  may  not  this  ideal  condition  of  mankind  be 
the  ultimate  fulfillment  of  that  divine  proclamation  : 
"  Peace  on  earth;  good  will  toward  men"  ? 


(Published  in  Evening  Star) 


The  Roman  Colosseum,  unlike  the  Falls  of  Niagara, 
the  Big  Trees  of  California,  or  even  the  Pyramids  of 
Egypt,  is  never  disappointing  at  first  view — neither  in 
size,  nor  grandeur,  nor  picturesqueness. 

It  is  the  one  monument  of  the  "Eternal  City1' 
which  fascinates  the  beholder,  clings  to  the  memory  and 
looms  up  as  the  rightful  landmark  whenever  this  illus- 
trious city  is  recalled  to  mind. 

While  its  outlines  are  being  viewed  from  the  ex- 
terior, or  while  we  stroll  over  the  arena,  or  roam  through 
its  galleries,  we  care  little  to  know  its  exact  dimensions, 
for  the  time  and  place  are  not  conducive  to  mathematical 
calculations,  but  rather  to  retrospective  reflections. 

The  mind  naturally  travels  back  nearly  two  thou- 
sand years  when  the  colossal  statue  of  Nero  and  the 
reservoir  of  his  gorgeous  Golden  House  marked  the  spot 
of  the  present  structure,  and  when  Titus,  upon  his 
triumphant  return  from  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem, 
with  his  legions  of  captive  Jewish  slaves,  completed  this 
mammoth  structure,  in  which  were  produced  scenes  of 
public  entertainment  unprecedented  in  Roman  history. 

By  lifting  the  curtain  which  separates  the  dim  past, 
(69) 


PEN  SKETCHES 


we  can  see  thousands  of  captive  slaves  smarting  under 

the  overseer's  lash;  groaning  and  sweating  under  their 

heavy  burdens;  lifting  and 
moving  huge  blocks  of  stone, 
first  for  the  foundation;  then 
for  the  first  tier,  support- 
ing its  arcades  with  half 
columns  of  the  severe  Doric 
order;  then  for  the  second 
tier,  with  its  graceful  Ionic 
ornamentations;  then  for 
the  third  tier,  with  its  ornate 
Corinthian  cappings;  then 
to  the  dizzy  height  of  the 
fourth  tier,  and  providing 
for  the  support  of  the  masts 

to  sustain  the  immense  awn- 
ing; then  raising  and  placing 

into  each  arcade  of  the  second 

and  third  tiers  one  hundred 

and   sixty  large   statues    of 

marble,  of  which  surviving 

specimens  may  be  found  in 

the  Vatican   and   the  Capi- 

toline  Museum. 

What    mattered    it     if 

limbs  were  crushed  or  lives 

ruthlessly  sacrificed — for 

were  not  the  builders  only 

slaves?       The    incredibly 

short  period  in  which,  without  the  aid  of  steam  engines 


COLOSSEUM  ILLUMINATED 


and  electric  cranes,  the  main  part  of  this  gigantic 
structure  was  completed,  is  suggestive  of  the  great  army 
of  men  that  must  have  been  utilized  in  its  erection. 

And  yet  if  we  could  look  upon  this  building  today, 
complete  as  it  came  from  the  hands  of  the  builder,  with 
the  sculptured  figures  added  to  the  symmetry  of  its 
curved  and  mammoth  outlines,  perhaps  our  indignation 
at  Roman  heartlessness  would  be  momentarily  forgotten 
in  our  rapt  admiration  of 
the  structure. 

What  a  commentary 
upon  the  vagaries  of  the 
human  race  when  we  find 
this  structure,  which  should 
have  been  preserved  for  all 
time  in  its  original  grandeur 
as  the  fitting  symbol  of 
Rome's  ancient  power  and 
greatness,  ruthlessly  dese- 
crated, robbed  of  its  statues, 
stripped  of  its  marbles — 
even  its  blocks  of  stone 

stolen  to  build  some  pretentious  palace  or  to  com- 
memorate some  fabulous  miracles  ;  while  the  surviving 
blocks  were  recklessly  mutilated  to  extract  the  paltry 
bits  of  iron  which,  imbedded  in  the  interior  of  the  stone, 
held  the  blocks  firmly  together! 

What  would  Marc  Antony  have  said  of  such 
desecration  and  destruction  had  his  shade  reappeared 
in  the  adjoining  forum  where  he  had  delivered  his 
oration  over  Caesar's  dead  body?  What  would  have 


PEN  SKETCHES 


been  said  by  Augustus,  by  Brutus,  by  Cicero,  by 
Hadrian,  by  Trajan,  by  Caracalla,  by  Marcus  Aurelius? 
In  the  mutilation  and  shameless  destruction  of  this 
imposing  edifice  is  told  in  unmistakable  language  the 
pitiable  degeneracy  of  civic  pride  among  the  legatees  of 
the  Mistress  of  the  World. 

*  *  *  * 

But  a  visit  to  the  Colosseum  at  night,  during  an 
illumination,  is  one  of  those  rare  and  rich  treats  which 

is  never  forgotten. 

As  one  promenades  over 
the  arena,  through  the  crowd 
of  animated  pleasure  seekers, 
and  amid  the  enlivening  strains 
of  popular  music,  the  serious 
sentiments  and  reflections  so 
often  experienced  during  a 
visit  by  day  disappear,  and  a 
gala  spirit  takes  possession  of 
the  beholder. 

In  his  mind  are  recalled  hazy  and  confused  impres- 
sions of  the  time  when  the  arena  upon  which  he  is 
treading  was  the  center  of  intense  and  breathless  interest, 
and  the  encircling  galleries  crowded  with  nearly  a 
hundred  thousand  Romans. 

Gradually  the  impressions  become  more  vivid, 
when  suddenly  the  entire  first  tier  of  the  amphitheater 
is  bathed  in  rich,  crimson  light  ;  then  the  second  tier 
follows  with  a  grand  illumination  of  bright  green  ;  then 
the  third  completes  the  gorgeous  spectacle  with  a  broad 
expanse  of  violet ;  then  rockets  fill  the  open  canopy 


COLOSSEUM  ILLUMINATED 


73 


m 


with  myriads  of  flaming  and  spluttering  stars,  and  amid 

this  dazzling  scene  of  splendor  and  magnificence,  the  dim 

shapes  of  the  past  appear 

before   the  mind's   eye — 

the  emperor,  the  senators, 

the  vestal  virgins,  many 

of  them  clad  in  robes  of 

royal    splendor    and 

decked  with  costly  jewels, 

are  seen  in   the  podium, 

or  foremost  row  of  seats. 

Farther    up    are     the 

knights,    the     plebeians, 

the  women,  all  thirsting  with  a  horrible,  infernal  thirst 

for  the  flow  of  blood,  and  ready  to  shout  their  approval 

at  the  sacrifice  of  human  or  animal  life. 

And  upon  the  arena  we  may  imagine  the  entertain- 
ment to  open  with  a  grand  naval  combat.  Then,  with 
kaleidoscopic  swiftness,  the 
scene  is  transformed  into  a 
wild  jungle,  in  which  lions, 
tigers  and  elephants  suddenly 
appear  and  fill  the  building  with 
cries  of  rage  and  pain  as  they 
tear  each  other  to  pieces. 

Again  the  scene  shifts,  and 
two  gladiators  with  short  swords 
fight  a  duel,  in  which  both  are 
mortally  wounded,  but  who, 

throwing    away   their   swords,  expire  in   each   others' 

arms  in  a  final   fraternal   embrace. 


74 


PEN  SKETCHES 


Then  enter  the  retiartii,  who  entangle  their 
opponents  in  nets  thrown  with  their  left  hand,  defend- 
ing themselves  with  tridents  in  the  right ;  and  other 
gladiators  show  their  skill  fighting  unchained  lions 
and  tigers.  Again  the  scene  changes,  and  chariots 
drawn  by  spirited  horses  dash  around  the  arena  from 
opposite  directions,  and  their  drivers  pinion  their  com- 
petitors with  heavy  lances. 

To  stimulate  the  debauched  thirst  of  the  spectators, 
female  gladiators  now  redden  the  sands  of  the  arena 

with  the  life  blood  of  their 
rivals  ;  and  as  the  taste  for 
blood  becomes  stronger,  hun- 
dreds of  gladiators  fight  at 
one  time,  until  nearly  all  are 
lifeless  or  disabled. 

Then  a  hundred  or  more 
helpless  and  innocent  Christian 
martyrs  are  thrust  forward  to 
be  torn  to  pieces  by  wild 
beasts,  or,  by  way  of  diversion, 
despatched  with  arrows.  And 
so,  in  this  gorgeous  illumina- 
tion of  red  and  green  and 
purple,  and  the  downpour  ing  of  myriads  of  bright 
stars,  we  may  see,  in  our  mind's  eye,  new  scenes  of 
butchery  go  on  and  on  and  on,  during  the  one  hun- 
dred days  of  Roman  blood  drinking  and  blood  feasting 
and  blood  gormandizing,  until  suddenly  the  bright 
illumination  begins  to  fade — the  colors  blend  into  in- 
definite hues — then  disappear  altogether.  Then  follows 


COLOSSEUM  ILLUMINATED 


75 


a  darkness  so  dense,  so  awftal  by  the  sudden  contrast,  as 
to  suggest  that  outraged  nature,  no  longer  able  to  stand 
the  sight  of  this  inhu- 
man carnage,  this 
heartless  brutality, 
this  infernal  thirst  for 
human  blood,  had 
suddenly  swept  from 
existence  all  the  par- 
ticipants in  the  dread- 
ful crime,  and  under  its 
cloak  of  impenetrable 
darkness  had  con- 
signed such  scenes  to 
hopeless  oblivion ! 

But  as  the  black 
and  dense  smoke  from 
the  extinguished  lights 

gradually  lifts  and  clears  away,  and  as  the  silent  and 
unpeopled   galleries   of  the  amphitheater  again   reveal 

their  picturesque  outlines  in  the 
soft  and  subdued  light   of  the 
stars  and  moon,  we  may  inter- 
pret this  peaceful  picture  to  say: 
u  Under    the  new 
realm   of   the    lowly 
Nazarene  these  ancient 
scenes    of   human    de- 
bauchery  may   be    re- 
membered— b  u  t    will 
never  be  repeated." 


MAHTYRS 


(Published  in  Philadelphia  Record} 


No  one  can  visit  Damascus,  the  reputed  oldest 
inhabited  city  of  the  world,  without  experiencing  a 
singular  feeling  of  interest  and  curiosity  as  he  walks  the 
same  streets  which  have  been  trod  for  centuries  by  the 
Moslems  in  their  pilgrimage  to  Mecca ;  by 
Saladin,  on  his  triumphal  return  from  his 
victory  over  the  Crusaders ;  by  the  Omniad 
Caliphs,  when  they  made  Damascus  the  recog- 
nized Mohammedan  metropolis;  by  Paul,  when 
he  preached  the  new  religion  in  the  syna- 
gogues, and  was  let  down  from  its  walls  in  a 
basket;  by  Naaman,  the  cured  leper,  whose 
house  is  still  pointed  out  near  the  East  Gate, 
and  by  "  Eliezer,  of  Damascus, "  the  steward 
of  biblical  Abraham,  who  carries  us 
back  to  the  very  dawn  of  Jewish 
history. 

That  this  city  should  have  con- 
tinued to  exist  during  these  thou- 
sand of  years,  while  Babylon,  Anti- 
och,  Corinth,  Baalbek,  Memphis  and  other  great  cities 
of  antiquity  have  long  since  crumbled  into  dust,  may 

(76) 


BAZAARS  OF  DAMASCUS 


77 


seem  singular  at  first  thought.  But  when  its  peculiar 
topography  is  understood,  it  is  not  difficult  to  believe 

that  nature  predestined 
it  to  survive  in  some 
form  so  long  as  the  hu- 
man race  exists  ;  for 
Damascus  is  built  with- 
in that  beautifully  fer- 
tile strip  of  land  which 
stretches  out  like  a  field 
of  bright  emerald  in 

the  surrounding  desert,  and  which  is  perpetually  watered 
by  the  fountains  which  gush  forth  at  the  base  of  Anti- 
Libanus,  and  then  spread  through  many  miles  of  water 
courses,  gurgling  like  fresh  mountain  brooks,  giving  life 
and  nourishment  to  many  forms  of  vegetation,  and 
greeting  the  ear  with  a  continuous  melody  of  cooling 
refreshment. 

Why  should  not  such  a  city  continue  indefinitely? 
for  the  olive  and  fig,  the  pomegranate  and  orange,  the 
peach  and  apricot,  the  cherry  and  plum,  all  year  after 
year  and  century  after  century,  mingle  the  fragrance  of 
their  blossoms  and  yield  an  abundant  harvest  of  delicious 
fruit ;  while  at  the  same  time  this  perennial  stream  of 
water  rushes  rapidly  through  the  city  and  can  supply 
each  household  with  its  own  fountain. 

AN  ILLUSTRATION   OF  ORIENTAL  CONSERVATISM 

But  the  features  which  are  most  novel  and  striking 
in  Damascus,  and  which  most  travelers  are  apt  to  recall 
most  vividly,  are  its  celebrated  bazaars.  And  to  an 


PEN  SKETCHES 


observing  American  they  possess  a  special  interest  be- 
cause they  practically  illustrate  one  side  of  the  picture 
which  contrasts  Oriental  conservatism  with  American 
enterprise  and  progressiveness. 

These  bazaars  consist  of  long  rows  of  shops,  with 
the  intervening  street  covered,  at  a  considerable  height, 
by  an  arched  roof,  which  admits  some  degree  of  light. 


As  a  rule,  each  bazaar  is  devoted  to  a  special  line  of 
goods,  such  as,  for  instance,  the  saddlers'  bazaar,  the 
silk  bazaar,  the  fez  bazaar,  the  tobacco  bazaar,  the  boot 
and  shoe  bazaar,  the  coppersmith  bazaar,  the  silversmith 
bazaar  and  the  Greek  bazaar. 

To  stroll  through  these  bazaars  rarely  grows  weari- 
some to  the  American  or  European  traveler,  for  they  not 
only  amuse  and  entertain,  but  also  give  a  practical 


BAZAARS  OF  DAMASCUS 


79 


insight  into  Oriental  life  and  character.  In  them  may 
be  seen  the  baker  boy  carrying  on  his  bare  head  a  tall 
pile  of  thin,  flat  cakes  of  bread,  and  shouting,  uYa 
rezzak"  (meaning,  uOh,  Allah,  send  customers !"). 
Or  the  lemonade  or  raisin  water  vendor,  who 
rattles  his  brass  cups  and  shouts  the  equivalent  of 
"  Refresh  thy  heart ! "  or  u Allay  the  heart ! "  or 
"  Take  care  of  your  teeth  ! "  Or  the  vendor  of  beet 
root,  turnips  and  cucumbers  pickled  in  vinegar  or 
salt  water,  shouting,  "Oh,  father  of  a  family,  buy 
a  load  !  "  Sellers  of  nosegays  may  utter  the  sig- 
nificant warning,  "Appease  your  mother-in-law !n 
Intermingled  with  these  cries  are  the  peculiar 
sonorous  tones  of  the  muezzins,  as  they  stand  upon 
a  balcony  projecting  from  an  upper  story  of  the  mosques 
which  are  freely  interspersed  among  the  shops.  The 
appearance  of  some  of  these  muezzins  (who  are  some- 
times young  boys)  as  they  support  one  cheek  with  their 
hand,  and  shout  with  all  their  might,  is  very 
similar  to  the  street  hucksters  of  Philadelphia, 
as,  in  their  loudest  possible  tones,  they  call 
out  the  various  fruits  and  vegetables  they 
offer  for  sale. 

MEETING   PLACE  OF  THE   NATIONS 

Tramping  through  the  bazaars  may  also 
be  seen  a  heterogeneous  combination  of  indi- 
viduals and  animals.  The  Persian,  in  his 
flowing  robes  of  rich  colorings  ;  the  ordinary 
Arab,  in  his  plain  skirt  of  blue  cotton;  the  Greek  priests, 
with  their  long  black  hair  and  beard  and  with  flowing 


8o 


PEN  SKETCHES 


black  robes  and  tall  round  black  hats  ;   the  Jew,  with 

his  conventional  front  ringlet ;  an  occasional  demented 

Dervish,  who  shows  an  utter  disregard 

of  civilized  ideas  of  dress  ;  the  Moham- 
medan woman,  with  her  face  entirely 

concealed  behind  a  veil  of  most  gro- 
tesque pattern ;  the  patient 

donkey,  carrying  as  many  as 

three  riders  on  his  back ;  the 

public  carriage,  used  freely  by 

both  natives  and  travelers ;  the 

private    carriages,    conveying 

the  Governor  of  Syria  or  some 

other  dignitary  of  position  or 

wealth;   the  pet  lamb,  with  its 

head  and  legs  colored  black  and  its  tail  purple  and  red  ; 

the  donkey,  with  its  hair  clipped 
to  represent  an  ornamental  design 
in  mosaic;  or  a  team  of  eight  pow- 
erful oxen,  slowly  drawing  two 
blocks  of  granite  for  use  in  repair- 
ing the  old  Mosque  of  Omayyade; 
and  the  ever-present  Damascene 
dog,  lazily  dozing  in  the  roadway, 
and  only  deigning  to  move  at  the 
approach  of  some  great  dignitary. 
With  such  odd  scenes,  and 
with  the  streets  thickly  peopled 
with  so  motley  a  crowd,  it  is  not 
surprising  to  find  the  bazaars  of 

Damascus  a  source  of  entertainment  to  the  traveler. 


BAZAARS  OF  DAMASCUS 


81 


TRADESMEN  WHO  ARE  UNPROGRESSIVE 

But  it  is  only  when  the  methods  of  the  tradesmen 
are  studied  that  the  startling  contrast  is  realized  be- 
tween the  slow,  unprogressive  conservatism  of  the 
Orientals — with  its  enervating  effect  upon  their  indus- 
trial and  wealth-producing  powers — and  the  wide-awake, 
enterprising,  pushing  spirit  of  America,  which  not  only 
develops  our  natural  resources,  but  which,  by  its  ceaseless 
activity,  also  creates  new  forms  of  wealth  which  enrich 

the  buyer,  the  seller 
and  the  general  com- 
munity. In  a  crit- 
ical comparison  of 
Oriental  and  Amer- 
ican commercialism 
may  be  found  the 
key  to  the  solution 
of  some  complex  so- 
cial and  industrial 
problems. 

Nearly  everything  in  the  Damascus  bazaars  is  done 
on  a  small  scale,  and  most  of  the  proprietors  seem  disin- 
clined to  employ  labor  to  perform  that  which  they  can 
possibly  do  themselves.  The  saddler,  for  instance,  per- 
sonally buys  his  material,  converts  it  into  the  gayly 
decorated  Syrian  saddles,  with  their  broad,  clumsy 
stirrups ;  keeps  his  accounts,  sells  his  goods,  and  appar- 
ently performs  all  the  functions  connected  with  his  bus- 
iness, with  the  help,  very  often,  of  only  an  apprentice. 
And  he  is  also  generally  content  with  whatever  trade 


82 


PEN  SKETCHES 


comes  his  way,  without  being  disturbed  by  the  greater 
number  of  customers  who  may  patronize  his  neighbor. 
Possibly  the  Moslem  belief  in  fatalism  is  at  the  bottom 
of  this  apparent  contentment  or  apathy,  and  it  is  not 
without  significance  that  many  of  the  signs  which  ap- 
pear above  the  doorway  quote  some  phrase  from  the 
Koran,  instead  of  the  name  of  the  proprietor,  or  the 
character  of  his  business. 


The  above  features  also  seem  to  characterize  the 
shoemaker,  who  makes  and  sells  those  bright  red  and 
yellow  slippers.  Also  the  dealer  in  silks,  as,  squatting 
in  the  center  of  his  booth,  he  gravely  hands  down  and 
Unfolds  one  pattern  after  another  and  replaces  them  with 
the  same  calmness  and  dignity  if  they  are  not  purchased. 
Also  the  silversmith,  as  he  lays  aside  his  tools,  and  with 
his  three  keys  unlocks  a  safe  and  submits  the  article  you 
ask  for.  Or  the  coppersmith,  as  he  ceases  pounding  and 


BAZAARS  OF  DAMASCUS 


exhibits   trays   as  large  as  six  feet  in  diameter,  or  a 
pitcher,  or  a  copper  pot,  or  any  other  article  in  his  line. 

IN   THE  GREEK   BAZAAR 

In  the  Greek  bazaar,  however,  many  of 
the  shops  are  owned  by  those  who  have  had 
Buropean  experience  and  who  exhibit  an 
assortment  of  Persian  rugs,  woodwork  inlaid 
with  mother  of  pearl,  "Damascus  blades"  and 
pieces  of  ancient  armor,  and  a  great  variety  of  souvenirs 
especially  attractive  to  travelers. 

In  this  bazaar  there  is  keen  competition  for  securing 
customers,  and  the  passing  visitor  is  frequently  button- 
holed at  the  threshold  of  one  of  these  shops  and  warned 
that  all  the  other  shops  in  the  bazaar  will  charge  him 
double  price,  and  he  is  urged  to 
come  inside  and  inspect.  If  he 
yields,  a  curtain  is  generally  drawn 
across  the  doorway,  but  for  what 
specific  purpose  I  am  unable  to  say. 
If  the  traveler  is  unsophisti- 
cated, he  may  pay  the  price  de- 
manded for  such  articles  as  please 
his  fancy,  but  if  he  is  posted  regard- 
ing the  Damascene  method  of  trad- 
ing he  will  more  likely  take  with 
him  a  reliable  "dragoman,"  gather 
together  such  articles  as  he  desires 
to  purchase,  count  out  one-half,  two- 
thirds  or  three-fourths  of  the  price  (according  to  the 
character  of  the  articles),  hand  this  amount  to  the 


84 


PEN  SKETCHES 


"dragoman,"  who,  without  further  ceremony,  bundles 
up  the  articles,  hands  the  money  to  the  dealer,  and  trots 
off  with  the  collection — al- 
though rarely  forgetting  to  re- 
turn and  collect  his  own  com- 
mission. 

"Get  as  much  as  you  can" 
appears  to  be  the  go  as  you 
please  principle  which  under- 
lies Oriental  trading,  and  the 
custom  of  having  one  fixed 
lowest  price  for  all  customers 
appears  to  be  practically  unknown. 

LONG    HOURS  OF  LABOR 

The  impression  that  prevails  among 
some  that  Orientals  are  slow  and  lazy  is 
not  supported  by  the  habits  of  the  aver- 
age Damascene  artisan.  He  begins  his 
labors  early  in  the  day,  and  continues 
generally  until  nearly  nightfall.  And 
he  is  rapid  in  his  movements,  although 
working  with  the  most  primitive  tools. 
Steam  engines  are  a  rarity,  although 
horse  power  is  sometimes  used  when 
considerable  power  is  required.  I  visited 
an  establishment  where,  in  one  depart- 
ment, furniture  and  other  wooden  arti- 
cles were  inlaid  with  mother  of  pearl.  In 
this  department  a  boy  had  before  him  the  wood  into 
which  the  pattern  had  been  cut,  and,  with  his  eye,  he 


BAZAARS  OF  DAMASCUS 


measured  the  size  and  shape  of  the  indentation,  picked 
up  a  shell,  broke  off  a  piece  with  a  hammer  and  then 
patiently  filed  it  until  he  succeeded  in  making  it  fit, 
after  which  he  drove  it  firmly  into  the  indentation. 

In  the  same  factory  the  operator,  instead  of  using  a 
modern  scroll  saw  or  a  lathe,  supported  a  stick  of  wood 
in  a  frame  having  a  steel  point  at  either  end,  which  was 
inserted  into  the  wood,  thereby  furnishing  pivots  upon 

which  it  could 
turn  readily. 
Around  the  stick 
of  wood  was  then 
coiled  a  string> 
which  was  fasten- 
ed at  one  end  to  a 
long  bow,  while 
the  other  end  was 
held  in  the  right 
hand.  By  moving 
this  bow  back- 
ward and  forward 
the  wood  was  made 
to  revolve  rapidly,  while  a  sharp  chisel,  guided  by  the 
left  hand  and  foot,  cut  the  wood  into  the  desired  pattern. 
I  afterward  saw  this  same  principle  utilized  on  a  large 
scale  in  Cairo,  where  one  man  used  his  entire  energy  in 
revolving  the  wood,  while  another  man  controlled  the 
chisel. 

In  the  metal  department  of  this  establishment  boys 
and  girls,  apparently  as  young  as  ten  years,  were  em- 
ployed in  beating  the  metal  into  shape,  or  forming  the 


86 


PEN  SKETCHES 


various  designs,  but  all  were  quick  in  their  movements, 
although  accomplishing  but  little  in  comparison  with 
the  results  of  American  machinery. 


HOME   LIFE   IN   DAMASCUS 


An  unexpected  but  agreeable  introduction  to  the 
Damascene  style  of  living  was  furnished,  for,  after  having 


passed  through  several  workshops  of  this  establishment, 
we  suddenly  found  ourselves  in  a  handsome  courtyard, 
with  a  fountain  in  the  center,  and  an  open,  arched  room 
at  one  end  with  divans  running  around  the  three  sides, 
on  which  were  seated  the  ladies  of  the  household,  sipping 
coffee,  smoking  cigarettes  and  apparently  enjoying  their 
morning  entertainment  of  a  family  chat. 

Adjoining  the  open  room  at  the  opposite  side  of  the 


BAZAARS  OF  DAMASCUS 


court  was  an  exhibition  room  of  all  the  fine  wares  made 
in  the  factory  through  which  we  had  just  passed.     But 

_ .._ the    exterior  of   this    handsome 

dwelling  disclosed  only  plain 
walls,  with  nothing  outside  to 
indicate  its  luxurious  character. 

I  visited  another  dwelling 
house  in  Damascus  fronting,  with 
plain  and  almost  windowless  walls, 
on  the  street  called  (but  not  truth- 
fully called)  "Straight/'  and 
after  passing  through  an  unpre- 
tentious passageway,  entered  another  open  court  with 
gushing  fountain  ;  luxuriant  foli- 
age; with  two  open  highly  arched 
rooms  on  opposite  sides  in  which 
groups  of  ladies  were  smoking 
and  chatting,  while  the  walls  and 
ceilings  of  the  closed  rooms  were 
ornamented  with  fine  carvings, 
embellished  with  very  rich  colors 
and  gold,  and  suggesting  a  high 
order  of  Oriental  art  and 
luxury  which  could  never  be 
suspected  from  a  view  of  the 
exterior. 

Whether  this  custom  of  ex- 
cluding architectural  beauty  from 
the  eye  of  the  public  is  due  to  a 
fear  of  being  plundered,  or  to  a 
selfish  desire  of  limiting  its  enjoyment  to  the  few,  I  am 


PEN  SKETCHES 


not  able  to  say,  but  certain  it  is  that  in  Damascus  no 
forms  of  architectural  beauty  can  be  found  upon  the 
outside  of  dwellings  or  palaces. 

When  these  Oriental 
features  in  the  oldest  city  in 
the  world  are  compared  with 
the  restless  activity  of  the 
American  manufacturer  in 
constantly  devising  and  in- 


saving  machinery,  whereby 
larger  quantities,  and,  per- 
haps, superior  qualities  of  goods  may  be  produced  at 
lessened  cost ;  while  at  the  same  time  the  hours  of  labor 
for  the  workmen  are  gradually  being  lessened  ;  and 
when  we  also  compare  the  enterprise  of  the  American 
merchant  in  studying  the  wants  and  comfort  of  his  cus- 
tomers, supplying  them  with  a  constantly  enlarged 
variety  or  improved  quality  of  merchandise,  and  sur- 
rounding their  trading  with  every  imaginable  form  of 
convenience,  we  gain  a  glimpse  of  the  wide  gulf  which 
separates  the  Oriental  policy  of  conservatism  from  the 
progressive  policy  of  wide  awake  America. 

SIGNIFICANT  INDUSTRIAL  COMPARISON 

And  there  are  some  practical  teachings  to  be  found 
in  this  comparison  which  are  not  without  significance. 

In  Damascus  the  artisan  works  longer  and  probably 
harder  than  the  American  workman,  but  the  limited 
purchasing  power  of  his  day's  toil  forces  him  to  live 
with  his  family  in  one  or  two  cheerless  rooms  without 


BAZAARS  OF  DAMASCUS 


89 


modern  sanitary  or  culinary  convenience ;  to  exist 
mainly  upon  bread,  turnips,  cucumbers  and  a  few 
other  inexpensive  varieties  of  food  ;  to  dress  in  the 
commonest  kind  of  clothing,  of  which  he  generally 
possesses  but  one  suit  at  a  time ;  to  send  his  children 
out  to  work  almost  in  their  infancy,  and  to  be  content 
without  the  use  of  those  household  comforts  and  lux- 
uries which  the  American  has  been  taught  to  consider 
necessities. 

And  the  significance 
of  this  contrast  lies  in  the 
fact  that  the  Damascenes, 
like  all  other  Orientals, 
oppose  the  introduction  of 
labor  saving  machinery, 
mainly  upon  the  ground 
that  it  would  supplant  the 
hand  labor,  which  even 
now  has  difficulty  in  find- 
ing continuous  employment.  One  of  the  most  startling 
illustrations  of  this  character  was  brought  to  my  notice 
in  Palestine,  where  numbers  of  young  girls  were  carry- 
ing baskets  of  small  stones  on  their  head  to  furnish 
ballast  for  a  projected  railway. 

But,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  we  find  that  American  and 
English  artisans  are  employed  as  steadily  as  those  in 
Oriental  countries,  and  this  fact  supports  the  theory 
that  as  labor  saving  machinery  reduces  the  cost  of  the 
finished  product  these  products  work  their  way  more 
and  more  into  general  use,  until  they  are  classed  among 
the  actual  necessities  of  life,  and  their  cost  is  included 


9° 


PEN  SKETCHES 


in  the  wage  rate  which  the  bread  winners  are  expected 
to  receive  in  that  country. 

It  is  easy  to  find  instances  to  sup- 
port this  theory.  Several  generations 
ago  the  house  of  the  average  wage 
earner  in  America  was  not  supplied 
with  gas,  bath,  hot  and  cold  water, 
nor  a  range,  nor  a  heater.  Frequently 
=~  the  walls  were  whitewashed  and  bare 
of  pictures  and  other  ornamentation. 
Many  of  the  floors  were  uncarpeted, 
and  the  furniture  was  of  the  cheapest 
and  crudest  character,  while  books, 
musical  instruments  and  similar  forms  of  luxury  were  a 
rarity.  The  clothing  was  made  strong  and  durable  and 
generally  worn  until  threadbare.  The  food  was  of  the 
cheaper  kinds  and  limited  in  variety.  Educational  op- 
portunities were  also  few — while  hours  of  labor  were 
much  longer  than  at  present.  But  even  this  former 
condition  of  the  American  artisan  was  superior  to  the 
present  condition  of  the  average  Oriental,  for  in  many 
places  an  entire  family  is  forced  to  live  in  a  single 
chimney  less  room,  and  an  Arab  woman's  ordinary  dress 
costs  but  fifty  cents  and  never  goes  out  of  style. 

Does  not  the  theory  seem  plausible  that  wage  earn- 
ers, as  a  rule,  get  in  return  for  their  labor  a  certain 
measure  of  the  comforts  which  are  incident  to  the  condi- 
tions under  which  they  live?  If  goods  are  made  by  the 
slow  and  costly  process  of  hand  labor,  the  comforts  are 
proportionately  few,  because  of  their  relatively  high  cost; 
while  if  the  same  goods  are  made  by  the  more  economical 


BAZAARS  OF  DAMASCUS 


9' 


methods  of  machinery  their  low  cost  results  in  adding 

.hem   to   the  so-called  necessities  of  the  wage  earner, 

while   the   consequent  increased 

demand,    directly    traceable     to 

their  low  cost,  gives  employment 

to  an  increased  number  of  new 

laborers. 

What  influence  the  general 
introduction  of  labor  saving  machinery  would  have  upon 
the  Orientals  in  their  present  state  of  civilization  may  be 
a  mooted  question  ;  but  in  the  dreary  picture  of  Oriental 
life  of  today  we  have  a  graphic  hint  of  how  direful  a 
backward  stride  would  have  to  be  taken  in  our  Western 
civilization  had  labor  saving  machinery  been  excluded 
from  the  industries  of  America. 

IN   A   TURKISH   BATH 

Probably  an  accurate  inference  regarding  Oriental 
conservatism  may  be  drawn  from  a  visit  to  one  of  their 
celebrated  Turkish  baths.  In  view  of 
the  Oriental  origin  of  this  form  of 
bath,  and  of  the  further  fact  that  it  is 
used  more  generally  by  Orientals  than 
by  Europeans  or  Americans,  I  natur- 
ally expected  to  find  something  of 
extraordinary  merit  or  luxury. 

Entering  one  of  the  finest  of  these 
establishments,  I  was  much  pleased 
with  the  Oriental  character  of  the 
first  scene,  which  represented  a  large  open  court,  in  the 
center  from  which  gushed  one  of  the  many  refreshing 


PEN  SKETCHES 


fountains  in  Damascus,  and  around  which  on  all  sides 
were  raised  platforms  supporting  large  combination 
chair  couches,  upon  which  the  Orientals 
were  reclining — some  napping,  some  sip- 
ping coffee,  some  smoking  the  nargileh, 
some  chatting,  and  one  going  through  the 
varied  postures  and  gestures  connected  with 
the  ninety-nine  Moslem  prayers  he  was 
offering. 

Instead  of  being  conducted  to  a  private 
room,  in  conformity  with  American  and 
European  views  of  propriety,  the  bather  is 
expected  to  disrobe  before  this  miscellaneous  audience 
(as  well  as  the  outside  audience  in  the  street,  whenever 
the  door  is  temporarily  opened),  and  he  then  stores  his 
clothes  in  a  large  drawer  underneath  his  couch. 

The  publicity  of  the  disrobing  act  is,  however,  sat- 
isfactorily but  humorously  modified  by  the  attendants, 
who,  by  the  free  use  of  innumerable  towels,  construct  a 
sort  of  temporary  screen. 

After  this  preliminary,  the  bather  is  given  wooden 
sandals,  with    high    strips    fastened    to    the 
bottom,  which  convert  them  into  a  form  of 
stilt,  which,  upon  the  feet  of  a  novice,  con- 
stantly threatens  to  break  his  neck. 

Thus  equipped,  he  is  conducted  to  a  so- 
called  hot  room,  in  which  the  temperature  is 
about  equal  to  a  hot  summer  day  in  Philadel- 
phia. He  is  then  subjected  to  a  slight  rub- 
bing, his  limbs  are  pulled  until  they  u  crack, n  after 
which,  if  he  desires  the  luxury  of  a  shower  bath,  a 


BAZAARS  OF  DAMASCUS 


93 


stream  of  cold  water  is  shot  at  him,  from  an  ordinary 
hose,  which  smarts  sufficiently  to  justify  his  sudden  exit 
for  shelter. 

He  is  then  wrapped  in  a  number  of  enormous  Turk- 
ish towels,  his  head  is  picturesquely  "turbaned,"  and 
he  is  conducted  to  his  couch,  where  he  can  recline  and 
imagine  himself  to  belong  to  one  of  those  adventurous 
bands  whose  exploits  brightened  the  pages  of  the 
" Arabian  Nights. " 


In  order  to  gratify  the  curiosity,  it  may  pay  to  take 
a  single  Damascene  Turkish  bath,  but  for  thoroughness, 
cleanliness  and  genuine  comfort,  and  the  enjoyment  of  all 
the  paraphernalia  with  which  American  ingenuity  has 
improved  the  crude  methods  of  the  Orientals,  I  would 
recommend  the  European  or  American  Turkish  bath 
establishments — a  most  excellent  specimen  of  which 
may  be  found  in  Kelsey's  model  establishment  in  our 
own  city. 

The  Damascenes  will  probably  conduct  their  baths 
in  the  present  style  for  the  next  century.  On  the  other 
hand,  Americans  will  no  doubt  add  improvement  after 


94 


PEN  SKETCHES 


improvement  to  make  this  exhilarating  bath  still  more 
enjoyable  and  invigorating.  And  this,  in  a  nutshell, 
forcibly  illustrates  the  story  of  Oriental  conservatism 
and  American  progressiveness. 


SfeuVi 


us 


"The  City  of  the  Dead  !  the  City  of  the  Dead!" 
was  the  significant  and  only  comment  made  by  Sir 
Walter  Scott,  when  in  profound  thought  and  medita- 
tion he  walked  through  the  silent  and  unpeopled  streets 
of  unearthed  Pompeii. 

And  this  sentiment  of  awe  and  reverence  is  shared 
in  some  degree  by  all  visitors.  It  is  difficult — almost 
impossible — to  repress  it  And  the  sentiment  widens 
and  deepens  as,  in  our  imagination,  we  restore  the  dwell- 
ings, the  shops,  the  temples,  the  theaters  to  their  former 
condition,  and  reanimate  the  people  who  thronged  its 
streets  and  participated  in  its  amusements  on  that 
eventful  day  in  the  year  A.  D.  79. 

he  stones  in  the  street  pavement  are  just  as  they 
were  two  thousand  years  ago  ;  and  the  deep  ruts  in  them 
make  it  easy  to  picture  the  coming  of  a  gorgeously 
painted  chariot,  drawn  by  spirited  horses  and  rapidly 
driven  by  a  haughty  Roman  whose  proud  figure  and 
jeweled  garments  betoken  his  wealth  and  position. 

Passing  the  wine  shops,  with  their  marble  counter 
still  intact,  it  is  not  difficult  to  repeople  them  with  those 
who,  in  laughter  and  song,  there  whiled  away  their  hours 
of  idleness. 

(95) 


PEN  SKETCHES 


Coming  to  the  public  fountains  at  the  street  corners, 
we  can  easily   picture   the   natives  stooping  to  drink 

water  from  the  spout, 
for  the  deep  indenta- 
tions worn  into  the 
|£  J  marble  show  where,  for 
many  generations,  they 
rested  their  hands  to 
balance  their  body  as 
they  leaned  forward. 
Entering  the  house  of  the  tragic  poet,  or  of  Pansa 
(an  excellent  reproduction  of  which  can  be  found  in 
Franklin  W.  Smith's  house  in  Saratoga),  orofDiomeda, 
or  of  Sallust,  we  can  bring  to  mind  the  master  of  the 
house  transacting  business  in  the  front  rooms  ;  or,  by 
passing  through  the  peristyle  into 
the  dining  room,  with  its  atmos- 
phere cooled  by  the  spray  of  gush- 
ing fountains  and  fragrant  with  the 
perfume  of  flowers,  we  may  see  the 
table  supplied  with  the  choicest 
viands  and  delicacies,  and  the  re- 
clining figures  of  hilarious  diners, 
who  believe  in  interpreting  the  con- 
spicuous presence  of  a  skull,  not  as 
a  warning  to  prepare  for  death,  but 
as  a  reminder  that  life  is  short  and 
that  they  must  extract  all  possible 
pleasure  while  they  can. 

Leaving  the  dwellings  and  entering  the   market 
place,  we  can  imagine  the  stalls  again  filled  with  the 


POMPEII  4ND  VESUVIUS 


97 


•MUM 

CofV 


fruits,  the  vegetables  and  provisions  of  the  times;  and 
also  picture  the  women,  clad  in  their  Grecian  gowns  of 
gay  colors,  whose  thin,  loose 
drapery  gave  such  pictur- 
esque outline  to  the  natural 
form,  bargaining  with  the 
same  vivacity  which  marks 
the  Italian  women  of  today. 
Looking  into  the  bake 
shop,  we  may  reanimate  the 
very  baker  who  baked  that 
celebrated  loaf  of  bread, 
stamped  with  his  trade  mark,  but  which,  instead  of  nour- 
ishing the  people  of  his  time,  has  been  singularly  pre- 
served for  the  curious  gaze  of  people  of  countless  gener- 
ations. 

Entering  the  open  Forum,  we  may  almost  hear  the 
voice  of  the  candidate  for  office  as  he  appeals  for  votes  in 

the  coming  election. 

Passing  on  we  can 
imagine  votive  offerings 
being  made  in  the  grace- 
ful white  marble  temples 
of  Apollo,  of  Jupiter,  of 
Fortune,  and  in  that  mys- 
terious temple  of  Isis, 
whose  oracle  made  the 
worshipers  hopeful  or  de- 
spairing, according  to  the 
whim  of  the  priest,  who,  by  means  of  a  concealed  speak- 
ing tube,  transmitted  his  voice  to  the  stone  figure. 


98 


PEN  SKETCHES 


Entering  the  elaborate  baths,  we  can  again  picture 
the  luxurious  Pompeians  enjoying  all  the  exhilarating 

details    of   bathing, 
and   an- 
idling 


massagng 
ointing,  or 
their  time  in  chat- 
ting over  the  current 
events  of  the  day. 

Passing  near  the 
quarters  of  the  gladi- 
ators and  the  streets 
they  frequented,  we 
can  almost  overhear 
their  coarse  jests,  and 
their  outbursts  of 

loud  laughter,  while  pursuing  those  voluptuous  pleas- 
ures of  which  such  curious  relics  have  been  bequeathed 
to  the  student  of  history. 

Or  in  visiting  the  open  theater,  we  can  picture  an 
audience  of  five  thousand  Pompeians  shout- 
ing approbation  or  condemnation  of  the 
performance  of  the  actors.  Or,  looking 
into  the  Bay,  which  at  that  time  washed 
the  very  portals  of  the  city,  we  can  picture 
it  dotted  with  the  boats  of  those  who,  under 
the  blue  canopy  of  an  Italian  sky,  were 
serenely  sailing  over  the  most  beautiful  bay 
in  the  world. 

Having,  in  our  imagination,  thus  re- 
stored the  brightly  stuccoed  dwellings,  the  white  marble 
temples,    and    the    classical    statues    to    their    former 


POMPEII  AND  VESUVIUS 


99 


picturesque  beauty;  and  having  seen  the  people  engaged 
in  their  ordinary  pursuits  of  business,  of  social  affairs 
and  of  pleasure,  we 
must  complete  the 
eventful  picture  by  feel- 
ing a  sudden  quivering 
of  the  ground — by  hear- 
ing a  deep,  hoarse  rum- 
bling, like  that  of  dis- 
tant cannonading;  and 
by  seeing  from  the 
green  topped  summit  of 
Mount  Vesuvius  a  huge  pillar  of  smoke  and  ashes, 
which,  rising  higher,  higher,  higher,  and  broader, 
broader,  broader,  spread  as  far  away  as 
Africa  —  as  Egypt  —  as  Syria  —  and 
changed  the  blue  Italian  sky  first 
into  a  dull  gray  and  finally  into  a  deep 
black  ;  and  first  dimmed  the  bright  rays 
of  the  sun ;  then  changed  its  face  into  a 
dull,  reddish  disc;  then  obscured  it  alto- 
gether— until  the  blackness  of  night  and 
death  fell  like  a  funeral  pall  upon  the 
scene  below. 

What  actually  occurred  at  the  time 
of  the  dreadful  catastrophe  seems  almost 
incredible,  but  according  to  the  testimony 
of  reliable  eye  witnesses,  such  as  Pliny 
(who  succeeded  in  escaping  from  the  city, 
but  whose  uncle  lost  his  life  at  Stabiae,  while  watching 
the  eruption),  fine  ashes  first  fell,  which  became  thicker 


Pon 


100 


PEN  SKETCHES 


and  denser,  until  they  penetrated  the  houses,  vitiated 
the  atmosphere,  piled  up  deeper  and  deeper  in  the 
streets,  like  the  snow  during  our  blizzard  of  last  Febru- 
ary, until  they  reached  a  depth  of  three  feet. 

People  in  the  houses  sought  the  streets — those  in 
the  streets  sought  the  houses.  The  main  thoroughfares 
became  crowded  with  people — some  eager  to  reach  the 
seashore,  others  eager  to  leave  the  shore  and  seek  refuge 
in  the  city. 


Parents  became  separated  from  their  children,  wives 
from  their  husbands,  and  in  the  dense  darkness  could 
only  hope  to  be  reunited  by  the  sound  of  the  voice, 
which  was  almost  indistinguishable  amid  the  lamenta- 
tions of  the  women,  the  cries  of  the  children,  the  shrieks 
of  those  being  trampled  and  crushed,  and  the  weird, 
dismal  shouts  of  some  Galileans  that  * c  Babylon  is 
fallen  !  Babylon  is  fallen !" 

At  the  same  time  the  sea  became  convulsed  with 
violent  agitation,  threatening  to  engulf  those  who  ven- 


POMPEII  AMD  VESUyiUS  loi 

tured  upon  its  surface,  and  then  Vesuvius  suddenly 
gushed  forth  a  great  pillar  of  fire,  which  covered  the  city 
with  a  shower  of  red  hot  pumice  stone  to  a  depth  of 
seven  or  eight  feet;  then  belched  out  another  shower  of 
ashes,  and  then  a  second  shower  of  pumice  until  the 
entire  city  was  covered  to  a  depth  of  about  twenty  feet, 
under  which  the  unexcavated  portions  of  the  city  still 
lie  buried. 

With  this  tragic  picture  fresh  in  mind,  it  is  but 
natural  that  we  should  experience  a  sentiment  of  pro- 
found pathos  as  we  tread  the  pavements  and  streets 
which  today  are  the  same  as  they  were  on  the  day  of  the 
eruption;  and  as  we  gaze  upon  the  frescoed  walls  of  the 
dwellings,  and  enter  the  shops,  and  visit  the  temples 
and  inspect  the  baths  and  theaters. 

From  the  discoveries  and  researches  which  have 
been  made,  it  would  seem  that  during  the  three  days  of 
the  eruption,  probably  two  thousand  Pompeians  per- 
ished. In  one  large  underground  room  were  found  the 
bodies  of  eighteen  people,  who  probably  selected  that 
place  as  a  safe  refuge,  but  who  were  stifled  with  the  fine 
ashes  or  the  gases. 

The  fact  that  Pompeii  was  known  to  have  been  a 
wealthy  and  luxurious  city,  while,  on  the  other  hand, 
the  jewels  and  gold  which  have  been  unearthed  in  mod- 
ern times  were  comparatively  meager,  warrants  the  be- 
lief that  shortly  after  the  eruption  numerous  excavations 
were  made  to  recover  jewels  and  other  valuables ;  and  for 
several  centuries  the  ruins  were  probably  repeatedly 
ransacked  for  the  marbles,  statues  and  precious  stones 
used  in  the  embellishment  of  the  temple  and  other 


102  PEN  SKETCHES 


buildings.  After  that  period,  however,  the  city  seems 
to  have  been  entirely  forgotten  for  about  fourteen  centu- 
ries, when,  in  1748,  the  discovery  of  some  statues  at- 
tracted the  attention  of  Charles  III. ,  who  caused  excava- 
tions to  be  made.  For  a  century  the  work  went  on  with 
more  or  less  irregularity,  but  since  1860  a  systematic 
plan  has  been  adopted  which,  if  carried  out  during  the 
next  fifty  years,  and  with  an  expenditure  of  about  one 
million  dollars,  will  probably  result  in  laying  bare  to  the 
public  gaze  all  that  remains  of  this  wonderfully  pre- 
served and  interesting  "City  of  the  Dead." 


But  an  appropriate  companion  visit  to  Pompeii  is 
the  ascent  to  Mount  Vesuvius. 

Leaving  Naples  by  carriage  and  driving  through 
the  old  district  of  the  city,  where  the  proverbial  char- 
acteristics of  the  Neapolitan  poor  can  be  seen  to  advan- 
tage, we  begin  a  gradual  ascent  through  fertile  fields  and 
productive  vineyards.  On  the  road  we  are  met  by 
troops  of  Neapolitan  youngsters  whose  manual  training 
seems  to  have  been  limited  to  learning  the  one  song  of 
'  <  BaksMsA  !  bakshish  !  > ' 

I  know  how  aggravating  this  cry  is  to  many 
travelers,  and  how  it  is  deplored  in  guide  books,  but  as 


POMPEII  AND  VESUVIUS  103 

the  custom  has  become  almost  universal  in  European 
and  Asiatic  countries,  and  therefore  must  be  endured,  I 
am  inclined  to  believe  that  it  may  be  converted  into  a 
source  of  entertainment  instead  of  proving  a  nervous 
irritant. 

Probably  only  a  very  small  proportion  of  those  who 
ask  for  \>2&ishish  expect  to  get  it,  for  it  may  be  received 
only  once  in  response  to  several  hundred  appeals,  and 
the  equanimity  of  the  pleader  is  not  often  disturbed 
when  the  coin  fails  to  materialize. 

In  response  to  such  appeals  I  have  fre- 
quently extended  my  own  hand  and  jestingly 
asked  them  for  bak.s/z^,  and  this  almost  in- 
variably excited  among  the  children  the 
greatest  glee  and  good  humor. 

And  many  of  the  Italian  babies,  with 
their  round,  chubby  faces,  black  hair,  and 
large  appealing  eyes,  are  too  picturesque  to 
treat  harshly  or  with  disdain — even  though 
they  are  taught  to  clamor  for  \>akshish. 

And  some  of  them  are  so  bright  and 
attractive  that  the  question  spontaneously  arises  :  Is  it 
not,  after  all,  the  mere  place  of  birth  and  social  en- 
vironment (for  which  the  individual  is  wholly  irre- 
sponsible) which  gravitates  the  prattling  infant  into  a 
future  flower  seller  of  Naples,  a  Bedouin  daughter  of 
the  desert,  or  a  belle  of  Fifth  Avenue  or  Rittenhouse 
Square  ?  Do  not  the  differences  lie  mainly  in  the  ex- 
terior? May  not  the  motives  and  inherent  character 
be  the  same — regardless  of  position  or  external  ap- 
pearances ? 


104 


PEN  SKETCHES 


And  this  fellow  feeling  for  humanity  engenders  a 

kindlier  feeling  and  a  keener  interest  in  those  who 
appeal  for  baks/tisfy  and  suggests  the 
thought  that  this  form  of  appeal  may 
be  but  the  natural  outgrowth  of  those 
pitiable  conditions  which  betoken  a 
bitter  struggle  for  mere  existence — a 
struggle  which  is  significantly  indi- 
cated by  the  clothes  of  these  Neapoli- 
tan children,  not  one  suit  of  which 
appears  to  have  been  made  or  pur- 
chased for  the  boy  or  girl  wearing  it, 
but  seeming  rather  as  a  legacy  from 
parent  or  grandparent,  and  but  slight- 
ly modified  to  meet  the  wants  of  the 
wearer. 

One  little  fellow,  about  eight  years 
old,  persisted  in  following  the  carriage 

from  the  outskirts  of  Naples  to  the  very  base  of  the  cone 

of  Vesuvius  and  then   trotted 

back,  a    distance  of  probably 

eight  or  ten  miles,  and  he  ap- 
peared most  grateful    for  the 

few  centesimi  which  he  finally 

received. 

On  the  way  we  were  met 

by  a   band   of  strolling   blind 

musicians  whose  serenade  was 

most  acceptable.     Further  on 

a  cripple  greeted  us    with  a 

whistling  performance  which  was  quite  skilful. 


Then 


POMPEII  4ND  yESUYIUS 


105 


we  were  met  by  another  band  of  musicians,  and  also 
by  the  makers  and  vendors  of  the  somewhat  celebrated 
wine,  bearing  what  appears  to  me  a  most  sacrilegious 
title.  Then  a  young  man  met  us  who  proposed  to  take 
certain  coins  and  imbed  them  in  the  hot  lava  and  return 
them  to  us — for  a  consideration.  And  girls  picked  flowers 
and  boys  gathered  specimens  of  curious  stones  for  us  ; 
and  so,  in  ascending  the  mountain,  the  recipients  of  bak- 
shish  proved  entertaining  to  me  rather  than  annoying. 

But  after  a  time 
the  beautifully  fer- 
tile region  suddenly 
stopped,  and  in  strik- 
ing contrast  ap- 
peared a  vast  bed  of 
black  lava,  which 
had  been  belched 
forth  during  the  last 
eruption  in  1895. 

The  solidified 
forms  which  this 
molten  stream  of  lava  finally  assumed  appear  like  a 
weird  and  gruesome  tableaux  to  illustrate  the  agonizing 
convulsions  of  the  mountain  as  it  again  poured  out  its 
vials  of  fiery  wrath  upon  the  luckless  dwellers  within 
its  reach. 

One  might  suspect  that  Gustave  Dore  had  visited 
such  aplace  in  depicting  the  scenes  in  Dante's  "  Inferno," 
for  almost  the  entire  bed  of  lava  appeared  like  a 
heterogeneous  mass  of  human  arms  and  legs  and  head- 
less trunks,  all  coiled  and  twisted  and  entwined  with 


io6 


PEN  SKETCHES 


serpents  and  with  the  limbs  of  animals,  while  here  and 
there  might  be  seen  the  uplifted  head  of  a  hyena,  or  of  a 
vulture  gloating  over  the  field  of  death  and  desolation. 
When  Bulwer  located  his  witch  of  Vesuvius  in  the 
mountain  the  fertile  fields  covered  its  very  summit,  but 
had  it  then  existed  as  this  bed  of  lava  now  appears,  it  is 
easy  to  imagine  her  inhuman  gloatings  at  the  prospect 
of  dwelling  amid  such  weird  and  gruesome  surroundings. 


But  after  reaching  the  foot  of  the  cone,  and  refresh- 
ing yourself  with  the  excellent  dejeuner  which  is  there 
provided,  we  make  the  ascent  by  means  of  a  cable 
incline  railway,  which  at  some  places  is  almost  steep 
enough  to  suggest  the  substitution  of  an  elevator. 

For  those  who  enjoy  looking  out  from  such  a  steep 
ascent  a  magnificent  view  of  the  surrounding  country 
and  the  Bay  of  Naples  may  be  obtained,  but  when  you 
leave  the  car  and  begin  the  final  ascent  of  the  cone,  a 
scene  of  excitement  generally  follows  which  precludes 


POMPEII  AND  VESUVIUS 


107 


many  travelers,  upon  the  occasion  of  their  first  visit, 
from  thinking  of  much  else  than  their  personal  comfort 
and  safety. 

The  distance  from  the  ter- 
minus of  the  railroad  to  the 
mouth  of  the  crater  is  several 
hundred  feet.  The  ascent  is 
extremely  steep.  The  ground 
consists  of  fine,  loose  ashes,  and 
the  wind  generally  blows  at  so 
furious  a  rate  as  to  threaten  the 
unceremonious  uplifting  of  the  traveler  and  depositing 
him  somewhere  near  Naples. 

The  guides  have  a  trick  of  rushing  you  up  at  so 
rapid  a  rate  that  you  become,  in  a  few  moments,  thor- 
oughly exhausted,  and  pant  as  though  nearly  all  the 
breath  had  left  your  body.  In  this  helpless  condition 
you  gladly  cling  to  the  strap  which  the  guide  offers 
(fee,  two  francs),  or  allow  yourself  to  be  hoisted  upon 
the  shoulders  of  two  guides  (fee,  four  francs),  or  tumble 
into  a  sedan  chair  carried  by  the 
guides  (fee,  twenty-five  francs),  to  aid 
you  in  reaching  the  summit.  While 
there  you  may  be  able  to  enjoy  the 
extensive  view  of  Naples,  Hercu- 
laneum,  Pompeii  and  the  Mediter- 
ranean, and  you  may  approach  the 
mouth  of  the  crater  and  see  an  enor- 
rEE2«ANC5  mous  round  cavity  filled  with  smoke 
and  steam,  in  which  rocks  and  stones 
are  thrown  violently  upward  from  the  interior,  and  the 


io8 


PEN  SKETCHES 


sound  of  the  explosions  is  like  that  of  distant  thunder. 

If  you  would  accept  the  guide's  suggestion  to  hand  him 
a  franc,  which  he  will  throw  in  for  "good 
luck,"  you  may  afterwards  comfort  your- 
self with  the  thought  that  the  franc  may 
add  to  the  material  comfort  of  the  guide 
if,  perchance,  he  threw  in  a  pebble  instead 
of  the  coin. 

And  when  you  are  rushed  down  the 
cone,  and  the  guide,  in  a  singularly  sig- 
nificant tone,  asks,  at  a  point  which  is 
most  precipitous,  for  some  baksfasfty  you 
may  be  tempted  to  promise  him  all  your 
worldly  possessions  if  he  will  only  take 
you  to  a  place  of  safety. 
To  most  travelers  the  second  trip  is  likely  to 

prove    the  more  enjoyable,  for  he  can  then  plan   the 

details  of  his  program  in  advance  and  when  he  is  in  full 

control  of  his  reasoning  faculties. 
But   when,    safely  housed    in 

Naples,    you    see    peering  at    you 

through  the  thick  darkness  of  the 

night,  the  red,  burning  lava,  slowly 

oozing    through    the   side    of  the 

crater,  you  may  detect  in  its  lurid 

glow  a  sullen  look  of  warning  that, 

sooner  or  later,  the  demon  of  the 

mountain    will    again  feel     too 

cramped  within    his    narrow  con- 
fines, and  will  burst  forth  and  hurl  destruction  upon 

all  who  venture  too  near  his  lair. 


BAKSHISH 


POMPEII  AND  VESUVIUS 


109 


And  if  we  look  at  the  summit  of  Vesuvius  upon  a 
clear  day  and  with  a  favorable  wind,  we  may  see  again  and 
again  a  huge  pillar  of  white  smoke  gradually  rising 
above  the  crest,  and  as  its  upper  part  expands  it  may 
assume  a  colossal  shape  of  Apollo,  of  Venus,  of  Hercules, 
or  of  some  other  classic  figure  which  adorned  the  temples 
of  Pompeii,  and  as  they  slowly  melt  into  ethereal  noth- 
ingness, we  may  recognize  in  them  a  fitting  symbol 
of  the  departed  glories  of  the  "  City  of  the  Dead." 


NOTK.— It  may  not  be  convenient  for  all  to  cross  the  Atlantic  and  enter  the  beau- 
tiful bay  of  Naples,  and  from  there  make  the  interesting  trip  to  tbe  unearthed 
city  of  Pompeii;  but,  if  I  mistake  not,  models  of  a  number  of  these  ruins  and  restor- 
ations were  presented  to  Philadelphia  by  the  late  Hon.  John  Welsh.  It  must  have 
been  a  quarter  of  a  century  ago  that  I  first  saw  them  in  Fairmount  Park  near  the 
Green  Street  entrance,  although  afterwards  removed  to  Memorial  Hall. 

If  the  reader  is  sufficiently  interested  and  will  first  breathe  the  atmosphere  of 
ancient  Pompeii  by  reading  Bulwer  L,ytton's  old  work,  "I^ast  Days  of  Pompeii," 
and  become  interested  in  Glaucus  (Bulwer's  name  for  the  tragic  poet);  in  lone 
(whose  classic  face  and  figure  can  still  be  seen  in  the  Naples  Museum);  in  the  blind 
flower  girl  Nydia;  in  the  priests  of  the  Temple  of  Isis;  in  the  base,  but  interesting 
character  of  the  Egyptian  Arbaces,  and  in  the  gruesome  Witch  of  Vesuvius,  he 
may  be  able  to  visit  Pompeii  in  Philadelphia,  and  restore  its  buildings,  and  reani- 
mate it  with  life,  according  to  the  caprice  of  his  own  fancy  and  imagination;  and 
if  a  keen  desire  be  therewith  awakened  to  roam  among  the  real  ruins  in  Vesu- 
vian  Bay,  who  knows  but  that  the  coming  century  will  make  easy  the  realization 
of  many  impracticable  longings  of  today  ? 


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